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R E I) BUR N: 


) 


HIS FIRST VOYAHE. 


Beinf tijc Sailor-bog Confessiono anb Eomin- 
isconccs of tl)e Son-of-a-C^ontleman, in 
tl)c flXercljant Seroice. 



BY HERMAN MELVILLE, 

AUTHOR OP “TYPEE,” “ OMOO,*’ AND “MARDI.” 



N E W Y O R K : 

0 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
329 & 331 PEARL STREET, 


FRANKLIN SQUARE. 

1 85 5 . 


wN 
. ' ’ ■ 


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and forty-nine, by 

Herman Melville, 

in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
of New York. 


MY YOUNGER BROTHER. 


THOMAS M E L V i L L E 


NOW A SAlLOK ON A VOYAUK TO CHINA, 


toolnme is Snscribeb/ 



X. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER I. 

HOW WELLINGBOROUGH REDBURn’s TASTE FOR THE SEA WAS 

BORN AND BRED IN HIM 13 

CHAPTER II. 

redburn’s departure from home 22 

CHAPTER III. 

HE ARRIVES IN TOWN 27 

CHAPTER IV. 

HOW HE DISPOSED OF HIS FOWLING-PIECE 32 

CHAPTER V. 

HE PURCHASES HIS SEA- WARDROBE, AND ON A DISMAL RAINY DAY 

PICKS UP HIS BOARD AND LODGING ALONG THE WHARVES .... 37 

CHAPTER VI. 

HE IS INITIATED IN THE BUSINESS OF CLEANING OUT THE PIG- 
PEN, AND SI.USHING DOWN THE TOP-MAST 42 

CHAPTER VIT. 


HE GETS TO SEA, AND FEELS VERY BAD 


48 


VI 


% 

CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

HE IS PUT INTO THE LARBOARD WATCH J GETS SEA-SICK J AND 

RELATES SOME OTHER OF HIS EXPERIENCES 55 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE SAILORS BECOMING A LITTLE SOCIAL, REDBURN CONVERSES 

WITH THEM 63 

CHAPTER X. 

HE IS VERY MUCH FRIGHTENED J THE SAILORS ABUSE HIM 5 AND 

HE BECOMES MISERABLE AND FORLORN 69 

CHAPTER XL ' • 

HE HELPS WASH THE DECKS,' AND THEN GOES TO BREAKFAST... 73 

CHAPTER XII. 

HE GIVES SOME ACCOUNT OF ONE OF HIS SHIPMATES CALLED 

JACKSON 77 

CHAPTER XHI. 

HE HAS A FINE DAY AT SEA, BEGINS TO LIKE IT ; BUT CHANGES 

HIS MIND 86 

CHAPTER XIV. 

HE CONTEMPLATES MAKING A SOCIAL CALL ON THE CAPTAIN IN 

HIS CABIN 91 

CHAPTER XV. 

THE MELANCHOLY STATE OF HIS WARDROBE 97 

CHAPTER XVI. 


AT DEAD OF. NIGHT HE IS SENT T.'P TO LOOSE THE MAIN-SKYSAIL 103 


CHAPTER XVIL 


THE COOK AND STEWARD 107 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

HE endeavors to IMPROVE HIS MIND J AND TELLS OF ONE 

BLUNT AND HIS DREAM-BOOK 113 

CHAPTER XIX. 

A NARROW ESCAPE 122 

CHAPTER XX. 

IN A FOG HE IS SET TO WORK AS A BELL-TOLLER, AND BEHOLDS 

A HERD OF OCEAN-ELEPHANTS 126 

CHAPTER XXL 

A WHALEMAN AND A MAN-OF-WAR’s-MAN 129 

CHAPTER XXII. 

> 1 . 

THE HIGHLANDER PASSES A WRECK 133 

CHAPTER XXII. 

AN UNACCOUNTABLE CABIN-PASSENGER, AND A MYSTERIOUS YOUNG 
LADY 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

’ j 

HE BEGINS TO HOP ABOUT IN THE RIGGING LIKE A SAINT JAQO S 
MONKEY 

CHAPTER XXV. ' . 

QUARTER-DECK FURNITURE 152 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

A SAILOR A JACK OF ALL TRADES 155 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

HE GETS A PKKr AT IRELAND, AND AT LAST ARRIVES AT LIVER- 
POOL 160 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

% 

HE GOES TO SUPPER AT THE SIGN OF THE BALTIMORE CLIPPER-. 167 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

RKDBURN DEFERENTIALLY DISCOURSES CONCERNING THE PROS- 
PECTS OF SAILORS 174 

CHAPTER XXX. 

REDBURN GROWS INTOLERABLY FLAT AND STUPID OVER SOME 

OUTLANDISH OLD GUIDE-BOOKS 180 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

WITH ms PROSY OLD GUIDE-BOOK, HE TAKES A PROSY STROLL 

THROUGH THE TOWN 102 

CHAPTER XXXII. ' 

THE DOCKS 204 

CHAPTER XXXHI. 

THE SALT-DROGHERS, AND GERMAN EMIGRANT SHIPS 209 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 


THU: IRRAWADDY 


216 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


ii--. 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

SALLIOTS, COAST-OF-GUINEA-MAN, A.ND FLOATING CHAPEI. 221 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE OLD CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS, AND THE DEAD-HOUSE 225 

r 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

WHAT REDBURN SAW IN LAUNCELOTt’s-HEY 228 

CHAPTER XXXVHI. 

THE DOCK-WALL BEGGARS 236 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE BOOBLE-ALLEYS OF THE TOWN 240 

CHAPTER XL. 

PLACARDS, BRASS-JEWELERS, TRUCK-HORSES, AND STEAMERS.... 243 

CHAPTER XLI. 

« 

REDBURN ROVES ABOUT HITHER AND THITHER 253 

« 

CHAPTER XLII. 

HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE CROSS OLD GENTLEMAN 262 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

HE TAKES A DELIGHTFUL RAMBLE INTO THE COUNTRY ; AND 

MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THREE ADORABLE CHARMERS . 264 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

REDBURN INTRODUCES MASTER HARRY BOLTON TO THE FAVOR- 
ABLE CONSIDERATION OF THE READER 272 

A* 


X 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER XLV. 

HARRY BOI.TO.J KIDNAPS REDBURN, AND CARRIES HIM OFF TO 

LONDON 282 

CHAPTER XL VI. 

A MYSTERIOUS NIGHT IN LONDON 286 

CHAPTER XLVH. 

homeward-bound 299 

CHAPTER XLVHI. 

A LIVING CORPSE 306 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

CARLO o’lO 

CHAPTER L. 

HARRY BOLTON AT SEA 316 

CHAPTER LI. 

THE EMIGRANTS 324 

CHAPTER LIL 

THE EMIGRANTS KITCHEN 329 

CHAPTER LIII. 

THE HORATII AND CURIATll 334 

CHAPTER LIV. 


SOME SUPERIOR OLD NAIL-ROD AND PIG-TAIL 


338 


CONTENTS 


XI 


CHAPTER LV. 

DRAWING NIGIl TO THE LAST- SCENE IN JACKSOn’s CAREER 343 

CHAPTER LVl. 

UNDER THE LEE OF THE LONG-BOAT, REDBURN AND HARRY HOLD 

CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNION 346 

CHAPTER LVII. 

ALMOST A FAMINE 353 

CHAPTER LVHI. 

THOUGH THE HIGHLANDER PUTS INTO NO HARBOR AS YET; SHE 

HERE AND THERE LEAVES MANY OF HER PASSENGERS BEHIND. 356 

CHAPTER LIX. 

THE LAST END OF JACKSON 368 

CHAPTER LX. 

HOME AT LAST 372 

CHAPTER LXI. 

REDBURN AND HARRY, ARM AND ARM, IN HARBOR 377 

CHAPTER LXII. 


THE LAST THAT WAS EVER HEARD OF HARRY BOLTON 


387 


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R E D B U R S 


CHAPTER I. 

HOW WELLINGBOROUGH REDBURN’s TASTE FOR THE, SEA WAS 
BORN AND BRED IN HIM. 

“ W^ELLINGBOROUGH, as you are going to sea, suppose you 
take this shooting-jacket of mine along ; it’s just the thing 
— take it, it will save the expense of another. You see, 
it’s quite warm ; fine long skirts, stout horn buttons, and 
plenty of pockets.” 

Out of the goodness and simplicity of his heart, thus 
spoke my elder brother to*me, upon the eve of my departure 
for the seaport. 

“ And, Wellingborough,” he added, “ since we are both 
short of money, and you want an outfit, and I have none to 
give, you may as well take my fowling-piece along, and sell 
it in New York for what you can get. — Nay, take it ; it’s 
of no use to me now ; I can’t find it in powder any more.” 

I was then but a boy. Some time previous my mother 
had removed from New York to a pleasant village on the 
Hudson River, where we lived in a small house, in a quiet 
way. Sad disappointments in several plans which I had 
sketched for my future life ; the necessity of doing some- 
thing for myself, united to a naturally roving disposition, 
had now conspired within me, to send me to sea as a sailor 

For months previous I had been poring over old Nev 
York papers, delightedly perusing the long columns of shi^i 
advertisements, all of which possessed a strange, romantic 


14 


R E D B U R N ; 


charm to me. Over and over again I devoured such an- 
nouncements as the following : 

FOR BREMEN. 

The coppered and copper-fastened brig Leda, having near- 
ly completed her cargo, will sail for the above port on 

Tuesday the twentieth of May. 

For freight or passage apply on board at Coenties Slip. 

To my young inland imagination every word in an ad- 
vertisement like this, suggested volumes of thought. 

A brig I The very word summoned up the idea of a 
black, sea-worn craft, with high, cozy bulwarks, and rakish 
masts and yards. 

Coppered and copper-fastened! That fairly smelt of 
the salt water ! How different such vessels must be from 
the wooden, one-masted, green-and-white-painted sloops, that 
glided up and down the river before our house on the hank. 

Nearly completed her cargo I How momentous the an 
nouncement ; suggesting ideas, too, of musty hales, and cases 
of silks and satins, and filling me with contempt for the vile 
deck-loads of hay and lumber, with which my river experi- 
ence was familiar. 

Will sail on Tuesday the 2Qth of May — and the news- 
paper bore date the fifth of the month ! Fifteen whole 
days beforehand ; think of that ; what an important voyage 
it must he, that the time of sailing was fixed upon so long 
beforehand ; the river sloops were not used to make such 
prospective announcements. 

For freight or passage apply on board! Think of 
going on board a coppered and copper-fastened brig, and 
taking passage for Bremen ! And who could be going to 
Bremen ? No one but foreigners, doubtless ; men of dark 
complexions and jet-black whiskers, who talked French. 

Coenties Slip. Plenty more brigs and any quantity of 
ships must be lying there. Coenties Slip must be some- 
where near ranges of grim-looking warehouses, with rusty 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


15 


iron doors and shutters, and tiled roofs ; and old anchors 
and chain-cable piled on the walk. Old-fashioned coffee- 
houses, also, much abound in that neighborhood, with sun- 
burnt sea-captains going in and out, smoking cigars, and 
talking about Havanna, London, and Calcutta. 

All these my imaginations were wonderfully assisted by 
certain shadowy reminiscences of wharves, and warehouses, 
and shipping, with which a residence in a seaport during 
early childhood had supplied me. 

Particularly, I remembered standing with my father on 
the wharf when a large ship was getting under way, and 
rounding the head of the pier. I remembered the yo heave 
ho! of the sailors, as they just showed their woolen caps 
above the high bulwarks. I remembered how I thought 
of their crossing the great ocean ; and that that very ship, 
and those very sailors, so near to me then, would after a 
time be actually in Em’ope. 

Added to these reminiscences my father, now dead, had 
several times crossed the Atlantic on business affairs, for he 
had been an importer in Broad-street. And of winter even- 
ings in New York, by the well-remembered sea-coal hre in 
old Greenwich-street, he used to tell my brother and me of 
the monstrous waves at sea, mountain high ; of the masts 
bending like twigs ; and all about Havre, and Liverpool, 
and about going up into the ball of St. Paul’s in London. 
Indeed, during my early life, most of my thoughts of the 
sea were connected with the land ; but with fine old lands, 
full of mossy cathedrals and churches, and long, narrow, 
crooked streets without side-walks, and lined with strange 
houses. And especially I tried hard to think how such 
places must look of rainy days and Saturday afternoons ; 
and whether indeed they did have rainy days and Saturdays 
there, just as we did here ; and whether the boys went to 
school there, and studied geography, and wore their shirt 
collars turned over, and tied with a black ribbon ; and 
whether their papas allowed them to wear boots, instead 


16 


REDBURN: 


of shoes, which I so much disliked, for boots looked so 
manly. 

As. I grew older my thoughts took a larger flight, and I 
frequently fell into long reveries about distant voyages and 
travels, and thought how fine it would be, to be able to 
talk about remote and barbarous countries ; with what rev- 
erence and wonder people would regard me, if I had just 
returned from the coast of Africa or New Zealand ; how 
dark and romantic my sunburnt cheeks would look ; how I 
would bring home with me foreign clothes of a rich fabric 
and princely make, and wear them up and down the streets, 
and how grocers’ boys would turn back their heads to look 
at me, as I went by. For I very well remembered staring 
at a. man myself, who was pointed out to me by my aunt 
one Sunday in Church, as the person who had been in 
Stony Arabia, and passed through strange adventures there, 
all of which with my own eyes I had read in the book 
which he wrote, an arid-looking book in a pale yellow cover. 

“ See what big eyes he has,” whispered my aunt, “they 
got so big, because when he was almost dead with famish- 
ing in the desert, he all at once caught sight of a date tree, 
with the ripe fruit hanging on it.” 

Upon this, I stared at him till I thought his eyes were 
really of an uncommon size, and stuck out from his head 
like those of a lobster. I am sure my own eyes must have 
magnified as I stared. When church was out, I wanted 
my aunt to take me along and follow the traveler home. 
But she said the constables would take us up, if we did ; 
and so I never saw this wonderful Arabian traveler again. 
But he long haunted me ; and several times I dreamt of 
him, and thought his great eyes were grown still larger and 
rounder ; and once I had a vision of the date tree. 

In course of time, my thoughts became more and more 
prone to dwell upon foreign things ; and in a thousand ways 
I sought to gratify my tastes. We had several pieces of 
furniture in the house, .which had been brought from Europe. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


17 


These I examined again and again, wondering where the 
wood grew ; whether the workmen who made them still 
survived, and what they could be doing with themselves 
now. 

Then we had several oil-paintings and rare old engrav- 
ings of my father’s, which he himself had bought in Paris, 
hanging up in the dining-room. 

Two of these were sea-pieces. One represented a fat- 
looking, smoky fishing- boat, with three whiskerandoes in red 
caps, and their trowsers legs rolled up, hauling in a seine. 
There was high French-like land in one corner, and a tum- 
ble-down gray lighthouse surmounting it. The waves were 
toasted brown, and the whole picture looked mellow and old. 
I used to think a piece of it might taste good. 

The other represented three old-fashioned French men-of- 
war with high castles, like pagodas, on the bow and stern, 
* such as you see in Froissart ; and snug little turrets on top 
of the mast, full of little men, with something undefinable 
in their hands. All three were sailing through a bright- 
blue sea, blue as Sicily skies ; and they were, leaning over 
on their sides at a fearful angle ; and they must have been 
going very fast, for the white spray was about the bows like 
a snow-storm. 

Then, we had two large green French portfolios of color- 
ed prints, more than I could lift at that age. Every Satur- 
day my brothers and sisters used to get them out of the 
corner where they were kept, and spreading them on the 
floor, gaze at them with never- failing delight. 

They were of all sorts. Some were pictures of Versailles, 
its masquerades, its drawing-rooms, its fountains, and courts, 
and gardens, Avith long lines of thick foliage cut into fan- 
tastic doors and windows, and towers and pinnacles. Oth- 
ers were rural scenes, full of fine skies, pensive cows stand- 
ing up to the knees in water, and shepherd-boys and cottages 
in the distance, half concealed in vineyards and vines. 

And others Avcrc pictures of natural history, representing 


18 


R E D B U R N ; 


rhinoceroses and elephants and spotted tigers ; and above 
all there was a picture of a great whale, as big as a ship, 
stuck -full of harpoons, and three boats sailing after it as fast 
as they could fly. 

Then, too, we had a large library-case, that stood in the 
hall ; an old brown library-case, tall as a small house ; it 
had a sort of basement, with large doors, and a lock and 
key ; and higher up, there were glass doors, through which 
might be seen long rows of old books, that had been printed 
in Paris, and London, and Leipsic. There was a fine li- 
brary edition of the Spectator, in six large volumes with 
gilded backs ; and many a time I gazed at the word JLon- 
on the title-page. And there was a copy of D’Alem- 
bert in French, and I wondered what a great man I would 
be, if by foreign travel I should ever be able to read straight 
along without stopping, out of that book, which now was a 
riddle to every one in the house but my father, whom I so* 
much liked to hear talk French, as he sometimes did to a 
servant we had. 

That servant, too, I used to gaze at with wonder ; for in 
answer to my incredulous cross-questions, he had over and 
over again assured me, that he had really been born in 
Paris. But this I never entirely believed ; for it seemed so 
hard to comprehend, how a man who had been born in a 
foreign country, could be dwelling with me in our house in 
America. 

As years passed on, this continual dwelling upon foreign 
associations, bred in me a vague prophetic thought, that I 
was fated, one day or other, to be a great voyager ; and 
that just as my father used to entertain strange gentlemen 
over their wine after dinner, I would hereafter be telling 
. my own adventures to an eager auditory. And I have no 
doubt that this presentiment had something to do with bring- 
ing about my subsequent rovings. 

But that which perhaps more than any thing else, con- 
verted my vague dreamings and longings into a definite 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


19 


purpose of seeking my fortune on the sea, was an old-fash- 
ioned glass ship, about eighteen inches long, and of* French 
manufacture, which my father, some thirty years before, 
had brought home from Hamburgh as a present to a great- 
uncle of jjnine : Senator Wellingborough, who had died a 
member of Congress in the days of the old Constitution, 
and after whom I had the honor of being named. Upon 
the decease of the Senator, the ship was returned to the 
donor. 

It was kept in a square glass case, which was regularly 
dusted by one of my sisters every morning, and stood on a 
little claw-footed Dutch tea-table in one corner of the sit- 
ting-room. This ship, after being the admiration of my 
father’s visitors in the capital, became the wonder and de- 
light of all the people of the village where we now resided, 
many of whom used to call upon my mother, for no other 
purpose than to see the ship. And well did it repay the 
long and curious examinations which they were accustomed 
to give it. 

In the first place, every bit of it was glass, and that was 
a great wonder of itself; because the masts, yards, and 
ropes were made to resemble exactly the corresponding parts 
of a real vessel that could go to sea. She carried two tiers 
of black guns all along her two decks ; and often I used to 
try to peep in at the portholes, to see what else was inside ; 
but the, holes were so small, and it looked so very dark in- 
doors, that I could discover little or nothing ; though, when 
I was very little, I made no doubt, that if I could but once 
pry open the hull, and break the glass all to pieces, I would 
infallibly light upon something wonderful, perhaps some gold 
guineas, of which I have always been in want, ever since I 
could remember. And often I used to feel a sort of insane 
desire to be the death of the glass ship, case, and all, in 
order to come "at the plunder ; and one day, throwing out 
some hint of the kind to my sisters, they ran to my mother 
in a great clamor ; and after that, the ship was placed on 


20 


R E D B U R N ; 


the mantle-piece for a time, beyond my reach, and until I 
should recover my reason. 

I do not know how to account for this temporary mad- 
ness of mine, unless it was, that I had been reading in a 
story-book about Captain Kidd’s ship, that lay somewhere 
at the bottom of the Hudson near the Highlands, full of 
gold as it could be ; and that a company of men were try- 
ing to dive down and get the treasure out of the hold, which 
no one had ever thought of doing before, though there she 
had lain for almost a hundred years. 

Not to speak of the tall masts, and yards, and rigging of 
this famous ship, among whose mazes of spun-glass I used 
to rove in imagination, till I grew dizzy at the main-truck, 
I will only make mention of the people on board of her. 
They, too, were all of glass, as beautiful little glass sailors 
as any body ever saw, with hats and shoes on, just like living 
men, and curious blue jackets with a sort of ruffle round 
the bottom. Four or five of these sailors were very nimble 
little chaps, and were mounting up the rigging with very 
long strides ; but for all that, they never gained a single 
inch in the year, as I can take my oath. 

Another sailor was sitting astride of the spanker-boom, 
with his arms over his head, but I never could find out 
what that was for ; a second was in the fore-top, with a coil 
of glass rigging over his shoulder ; the cook, with a glass 
ax, was splitting wood near the fore-hatch ; the steward, in 
a glass apron, was hurrying toward the cabin with a plate 
of glass pudding ; and a glass dog, with a red mouth, was 
barking at him ; while the 'captain in a glass cap was smok- 
ing a glass cigar on the quarter-deck. He was leaning 
against the bulwark, with one hand to his head ; perhaps 
he was unwell, for he looked very glassy out of the eyes. 

The name of this curious ship was La Heine, or The 
Queen, which was painted on her stern where any one 
might read it, among a crowd of glass dolphins and sea- 
horses carved there in a sort of semicircle. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


And this Queen rode undisputed mistress of a green 
glassy sea, some of whose waves were breaking over her 
bow in a wild way, I can tell you, and I. used to he giving 
her up for lost and foundered every moment, till I grew 
older, and perceived that she was not in the slightest danger 
in the world. 

A good deal of dust, and fuzzy stuff like down, had in the 
course of many years worked through the joints of the case, 
in which the ship was kept, so as to cover all the sea with 
a light dash of white, which if any thing improved the 
general effect, for it looked like the foam and froth raised by 
the terrible gale the good Queen was battling against. 

So much for La Reine. We have her yet in the house, 
but many of her glass spars and ropes are now sadly shat- 
tered and broken, — but I will not have ’her mended ; and 
her figure-head, a gallant warrior in a cocked-hat, lies 
pitching head-foremost down into the trough of a calamitous' 
sea under the bows — ^but I' will not have him put on his 
legs again, till I get on my own ; for between him and me 
there is a secret sympathy ; and my sisters tell me, even 
yet, that he fell from his perch the very day I left home to 
go to sea on this my first voyage. ' 


CHAPTER II. 

redburn’s departure from home. 

It was with a heavy heart and full eyes, that my poor 
mother parted with me ; perhaps she thought me an erring 
and a willful boy, and perhaps I was ; but if I was, it had 
been a hardhearted world, and hard times that had made 
me so. I had learned to think much and bitterly before 
my time ; all my young mounting dreams of glory had left 
me ; and at that early age, I was as unambitious as a man 
of sixty. 

Yes, I will go to sea ; cut my kind uncles and aunts, and 
sympathizing patrons, and leave no heavy hearts but those 
in my own home, and take none along but the one which 
aches in my bosom. Cold, bitter cold as December, and 
bleak as its blasts, seemed the world then to me ; there is no 
misanthrope like a boy disappointed ; and such was I, with 
the warm soul of me flogged out by adversity. But these 
thoughts are bitter enough even now, for they have not yet 
gone quite away ; and they must be uncongenial enough to 
the reader ; so no more of that, and let me go on with 
my story. 

“Yes, I will write you, dear mother, as soon as I can,” 
murmured I, as she charged me for the hundredth time, not 
to fail to inform her of my safe arrival in New York. 

“ And now Mary, Martha, and Jane, kiss me all round, 
dear sisters, and then I am off. I’ll be back in four months 
— it will be autumn then, and we’ll go into the woods after 
nuts, and I’ll tell you all about Europe. Good-by ! good- 
by !” 

So I broke loose from their arms, and not daring to look 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


23 


behind, ran away as fast as I could, till I got to the corner 
where my brother was waiting. He accompanied me part 
of the way to the place, where the steamboat was to leave 
for New York ; instilling into me much sage advice above 
his age, for he was but eight years my senior, and warning 
me again and again to take care of myself; and I solemnly 
promised I would ; for what cast-away will not promise to 
take care of himself, when he sees that unless he himself 
does, no one else will. 

We walked on in silence till I saw that his strength was 
giving out, — ^he was in ill health then, — and with a mute 
grasp of the hand, and a loud thump at the heart, we 
parted. 

It was early on a raw, cold, damp morning toward the 
end of spring, and the world was before me ; stretching 
away a long muddy road, lined with comfortable houses, 
whose inmates were taking their sunrise naps, heedless of 
the wayfarer passing. The cold drops of drizzle trickled 
down my leather cap, and mingled with a few hot tears on 
my cheeks. 

I had the whole road to myself, for no one was yet stir- 
ring, and I walked on, with a slouching, dogged gait. The 
gray shooting-jacket was on my back, and from the end of 
my brother’s rifle hung a small bundle of my clothes. My 
fingers worked moodily at the stock and trigger, and I 
thought that this indeed was the way to begin life, with a 
gun in your hand ! 

Talk not of the bitterness of middle-age and after life ; 
a boy can feel all that, and much more, when upon his young 
soul the mildew has fallen ; and the fruit, which with oth- 
ers is only blasted after ripeness, with him is nipped in the 
first blossom and bud. And never again can such blights be 
made good; they strike in too deep, and leave such a scar 
that the air of Paradise might not erase it. And it is a 
hard and cruel thing thus in early youth to taste before- 
hand the pangs which should be reserved for the stout 


24 


R E D B U R IS : 


lime of manhood, -when the gristle has become bone, and 
we stand up and fight out our lives, as a thing tried before 
and foreseen ; for then we are veterans used to sieges and 
battles, and not green recruits, recoiling at the first shock of 
the encounter. 

At last gaining the boat we pushed off, and away we 
steamed down the Hudson. There were few passengers on 
board, the day was so unpleasant ; and they were mostly 
congregated in the after cabin round the stoves. After break- 
fast, some of them went to reading : others took a nap on 
the settees ; and others sat in silent circles, speculating, no 
doubt, as to who each other might be. 

They were certainly a cheerless set, and to me they all 
looked stony-eyed and heartless. I could not help it, I al- 
most hated them ; and to avoid them, went on deck, but a 
storm of sleet drove me below. At last I bethought me, 
that I had not procured a ticket, and going to the captain’s 
office to pay my passage and get one, was horror-struck to 
find, that the price of passage had been suddenly raised that 
day, owing to the other boats not running ; so that I had 
not enough money to pay for my fare. I had supposed it 
would be but a dollar, and only a dollar did I have, whereas 
it was two. What was to be done ? The boat was off, 
and there was no backing out ; so I determined to say noth- 
ing to any body, and grimly wait until called upon for my 
fare. 

The long weary day wore on till afternoon ; one incessant 
storm raged on deck ; but after dinner the few passengers, 
waked up with their roast-beef and mutton, became a little 
more sociable. Not with me, for the scent and savor of pov- 
erty was upon me, and they all cast toward me their evil 
eyes and cold suspicious glances, as I sat apart, though 
among them. I felt that desperation and recklessness of 
poverty which only a pauper knows. There was a mighty 
patch upon one leg of my trowsers, neatly sewed on, for it 
had been executed by my mother, but still very obvious and 


H.IS FIRST VOYAGE. 


25 


incontrovertible to the eye. This patch I had hitherto 
studiously endeavored to hide with the ample skirts of my 
shooting jacket ; but now I stretched out my leg boldly, and 
thrust the patch under their noses, and looked at them so, 
that they soon looked away, boy though I was. Perhaps 
the gun that I clenched frightened them into respect ; or 
there might have been something ugly in my eye ; or my 
teeth were white, and my jaws were set. For several hours, 

I sat gazing at a jovial party seated round a mahogany table, 
with some crackers and cheese, and wine and cigars. Their 
faces were flushed with the good dinner they had eaten ; 
and mine felt pale and wan with a long fast. If I had pre- 
sumed to ofler to make one of their party ; if I had told 
them of my circumstances, and solicited something to refresh 
me, I very well knew from the pecifliar hollow ring of their 
laughter, they would have had the waiters put me out of the 
cabin, for a beggar, who had no business to be Avarming him- 
self at their stove. And for that insult, though only a con- 
ceit, I sat and gazed at them, putting up no petitions for 
their prosperity. My whole soul was soured within me, and 
when at last the captain’s clerk, a slender young man, dressed 
in the height of fashion, with a gold watch chain and broach, 
came round collecting the tickets, I buttoned up my coat to 
the throat, clutched my gun, put on my leather cap, and 
pulling it well down, stood up like a sentry before him. He 
held out his hand, deeming any remark superfluous, as his 
object in pausing before me must be obvious. But I stood 
motionless and silent, and in a moment he saw how it was ' 
with me. I ought to have spoken and told him the case, in 
plain, civil terms, and offered my dollar, and then waited the 
event. But I felt too wicked for that. He did not wait a 
great while, but spoke first himself; and in a gruff voice, 
very unlike his urbane accents when accosting the wine and 
cigar party, demanded my ticket. I replied that I had none. 
He then demanded the money ; and upon my answering that 
I had not enough, in a loud angry voice that attracted all 

B 


26 


REDBURN: 


eyes, he ordered me out of the cabin into the storm. The 
devil in me then mounted up from my soul, and spread over 
ray frame, till it tingled at ray finger ends ; and I muttered 
out my resolution to stay where I was, in such a manner, 
that the ticket man faltered back. 

“ There’s a dollar for you,” I added, offering it. 

“ I want two,” said he. 

“ Take that or nothing,” I answered; “it is all I have.” 

I thought he would strike me. But, accepting the money, 
he contented himself with saying something about sportsmen 
going on shooting, expeditions, without having money to pay 
their expenses ; and hinted that such chaps might better lay 
aside their fowling pieces, and assume the buck and saw. 
He then passed on, and left every eye fastened upon me. 

I stood their gazing some time, but at last could stand it 
no more. I pushed my seat right up before the most inso- 
lent gazer, a short fat man, with a plethora of cravat round 
his neck, and fixing my gaze on his, gave him more gazes 
than he sent. This somewhat embarrassed him, and he 
looked round for some one to take hold of me ; but no one 
coming, he pretended to be very busy counting the gilded 
wooden beams overhead. I then turned to the next gazer, 
and clicking my gun-lock, deliberately presented the piece 
at him. 

Upon this, he overset his seat in his eagerness to get 
beyond my range, for I had him point blank, full in the left 
eye ; and several persons starting to their feet, exclaimed that 
I must be crazy. So I was at that time ; for otherwise I 
know not how to account for my demoniac feelings, of which 
I was afterward heartily ashamed, as I ought to have been, 
indeed ; and much more than that. 

I then turned on my heel, and shouldering my fowling- 
piece and bundle, marched on deck, and walked there through 
the dreary storm, till I was wet through, and the boat touched 
the wharf at New York. 

Such is boyhood. 


CHAPTER III. 


HE ARRIVES IN TOWN. 

From the boat’s how, I jumped ashore, before she was 
secured, and following my brother’s directions, proceeded 
across the town toward St. John’s Park, to the house of a 
college friend of his, for whom I had a letter. 

It was a long walk ; and I stepped in at a sort of grocery to 
get a drink of water, where some six or eight rough looking 
fellows were playing dominoes upon the counter, seated upon 
cheese boxes. They winked, and asked what sort of sport 
I had had gunning on such a rainy day, but I only gulped 
down my water and stalked off. 

Dripping like a seal, I at last grounded arms at the door- 
way of my brother’s friend, rang the bell and inquired for him. 

“ What do you want ?” said the servant, eying me as if 
I were a housebreaker. 

“ I want to see your lord and master ; show me into the 
parlor.” 

Upon this my host himself happened to make his appear- 
ance, and seeing who I was, opened his hand and heart to 
me at once, and drew me to his fireside ; he had received a 
letter from my brother, and had expected me that day. 

The family were at tea ; the fragrant herb filled the room 
with its aroma ; the brown toast was odoriferous ; and every 
thing pleasant and charming. After a temporary warming, 
I was shown to a room, where I changed my wet dress, and 
returning to the table, found that the interval had been well 
improved by my hostess ; a meal for a traveler was spread, 
and I laid into it sturdily. Every mouthful pushed the 
devil that had been tormenting me all day farther and far 


28 


R E D B U R N : 


ther out of me, till at last I entirely ejected him with three 
successive bowls of Bohea. 

Magic of kind words, and kind deeds, and good tea ! That 
night I went to bed thinking the world pretty tolerable, after 
all ; and I could hardly believe that I had really acted that 
morning as I had, for I was naturally of an easy and for- 
bearing disposition ; though when such a disposition is tem- 
porarily roused, it is perhaps worse than a cannibal’s. 

Next day, my brother’s friend, whom I choose to call Mr. 
Jones, accompanied me down to the docks among the ship- 
ping, in order to get me a place. After a good deal of searcli- 
ing, we lighted upon a ship /or Liverpool, and found the 
captain in the cabin ; which was a very handsome one, 
hned wdth mahogany and maple ; and the steward, an ele- 
gant looking mulatto in a gorgeous turban, was setting out 
on a S9rt of sideboard some dinner service which looked like 
silver, but it was only Britannia ware highly polished. 

As soon as I clapped my eye on the captain, I thought to 
myself he was just the captain to suit me. He was a fine 
looking man, about forty, splendidly dressed, with very black 
whiskers, and very white teeth, and what I took to be a 
free, frank look out of a large hazel eye. I liked him amaz- 
ingly. He was promenading up and down the cabin, hum- 
ming some brisk air to himself when we entered. 

“ Good morning, sir,” said my friend. 

“ Good morning, good morning, sir,” said the captain. 
“ Steward, chairs for the gentlemen.” 

“ Oh ! never mind, sir,” said Mr. Jones, rather taken 
aback by his extreme civility. “ I merely called to see 
whether you want a fine young lad to go to sea with you. 
Here he is ; he has long wanted to be a sailor ; and his 
friends have at last concluded to let him go for one voyage, 
and see how he likes it.” 

“ Ah ! indeed said the captain, blandly, and looking 
where I stood. He’s a fine fellow ; I like him. So you 
want to be a sailor, my boy, do you ?” added he, afiectiorl- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


29 


ately patting my head. “ It’s a hard life, though ; a hard 
life.” 

But when I looked round at his comfortable, and almost 
luxurious cabin, and then at his handsome care-free face, I 
thought he was only trying to frighten me, and I answered, 
“ Well, sir, I am ready to try it.” 

“ I hope he’s a country lad, sir,” said the captain to my 
friend, “ these city hoys are sometimes hard cases.” 

“ Oh ! yes, he’s from the country,” was the reply, “ and of 
a highly respectable family ; his great-uncle died a Senator.” 

“ But his great-uncle don’t want to go to sea too ?” said 
the captain, looking funny. 

“ Oh ! no, oh, no ! — Ha ! ha !” 

“ Ha I ha !” echoed the captain. 

A fine funny gentleman, thought I, not much fancying, 
however, his levity concerning my great-uncle, he’ll he 
cracking his jokes the whole voyage ; and so I afterward 
said to one of the riggers on board ; but he bade me look 
out, that he did not crack my head. 

“ Well, my lad,” said the captain, “ I suppose you know 
we havn’t any pastures and cows on board ; you can’t get 
any milk at sea, you know.” 

“ Oh ! I know all about that, sir ; my father has crossed 
the ocean, if I havn’t.” 

“Yes,” cried my friend, “ his father, a gentleman of one 
of the first families in America, crossed the Atlantic several 
times on important business.” 

“ Embassador extraordinary ?” said the captain, looking 
funny sigain. 

“ Oh ! no, he was a wealthy merchant.” 

“ Ah ! indeed I” said the captain, looking grave and bland 
again, “ then this fine lad is the son of a gentleman ?” 

“ Certainly,” said my friend, “ and he’s only going to se? 
for the humor of it ; they want to send him on his travels 
-with a tutor, but he will go to sea as a sailor.” 

The fact was, that my young friend (for he was only about 


30 


REDBURN: 


twenty-five) was not a very wise man ; and this was a huge 
fib, which out of the kindness of his heart, he told in my 
behalf, for the purpose of creating a profound respect for me 
in the eyes of my future lord. 

Upon being apprized, that I had willfully forborne taking 
the grand tour with a tutor, in order to put my hand in a 
tar-bucket, the handsome captain looked ten times more 
funny than ever ; and said that he himself would be my 
tutor, and take me on my travels, and pay for the privilege. 

“ Ah !” said my friend, “ that reminds me of business. 
Pray, captain, how much do you generally pay a handsome 
young fellow like this ?” 

“ Well,” said the captain, looking grave and profound, 
“ we are not so particular about beauty, and we never give 
more than three dollars to a green lad like Wellingborough 
here, that’s your name, my boy ? Wellingborough Redburn! 
— Upon my soul, a fine sounding name.” 

“ Why, captain,”^ said Mr. Jones, quickly interrupting 
him, “ that won’t pay for his clothing.” 

“ But you know his highly respectable and wealthy rela- 
tions will doubtless see to all that,” replied the captain, with 
his funny look again. 

“ Oh ! yes, I forgot that,” said Mr. Jones, looking rather 
foolish. “ His friends will of course see to that.” 

“ Of course,” said the captain smiling. 

“ Of course,” repeated Mr. Jones, looking ruefully at the 
patch on my pantaloons, which just then I endeavored to 
hide with the skirt of my shooting-jacket. 

“ You are quite a sportsman I see,” said the captain, 
eying the great buttons on my coat, upon each of which 
was a carved fox. 

Upon this my benevolent friend thought that here was a 
grand opportunity to befriend me. 

“Yes, he’s quite a sportsman,” said he, “ he’s got a very 
valuable fowling-piece at home, perhaps you would like to 
purchase it, captain, to shoot gulls with at sea ? It’s cheap.’' 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


31 


“Oh! no, he had better leave it with his relations,” said 
the captain, “ so that he can go hunting again when he re 
turns from England.” 

“ Yes, perhaps that would be better, after all,” said my 
friend, pretending to fall into a profound musing, involving 
all sides of the matter in hand. “ Well, then, captain, you 
can only give the boy three dollars a month, you say ?” 

“ Only three dollars a month,” said the captain. 

“And I believe,” said my friend, “that you generally 
give something in advance, do you not ?” 

“Yes, that is sometimes the ' custom at the shipping of- 
fices,” said the captain, with a bow, “ but in this case, as 
the boy has rich relations, there will be no need of that, you 
know.” 

And thus, by his ill-advised, but well-meaning hints con- 
cerning the respectabilty of my paternity, and the immense 
wealth of my relations, did this really honest-hearted but 
foolish friend of mine, prevent me from getting three dollars 
in advance, which I greatly needed. However, I said noth- 
ing, though I thought the more ; and particularly, how that 
it would have been much better for me, to have gone on 
board alone, accosted the captain on my own account, and 
told him the plain truth. Poor people make a very poor 
business of it when they try to seem rich. 

The arrangement being concluded, we bade the captain 
good-morning ; and as we were about leaving the cabin, he 
smiled again, and said, “^Well, Redburn, my boy, you won’t 
get home-sick before you sail, because that will make you 
very sea-sick when you get to sea.” 

And with that he smiled very pleasantly, and bowed two 
or three times, and told the steward to open the cabin-door, 
which the steward did with a peculiar sort of grin on his 
face, and a slanting glance at my shooting-jacket. 

And so we left. 


CHAPTER IV. 


HOW HE DISPOSED OF HIS FOWLING-PIECE. 

Wext day I went alone to the shipping office to sign the 
articles, and there I met a great crowd of sailors, who as 
soon as they found what I was after, began to tip the wink 
all round, and I overheard a fellow in a great flapping sou’- 
wester cap say to another old tar in a shaggy monkey-jacket, 
“ Twig his coat, d’ye see the buttons, that chap ain’t going 
to sea in a merchantman, he’s going to shoot whales. I 
say, maty — look here — how d’ye sell them big buttons by 
the pound ?” 

“ Give us one for a saucer, will ye ?” said another. 

“ Let the youngster alone,” said a third. “ Come here, 
my little boy, has your ma put up some sweetmeats for ye 
to take to sea ?” 

They are all witty dogs, thought I to myself, trying to 
make the best of the matter, for I saw it would not do to 
resent what they said ; they can’t mean any harm, though 
they are certainly very impudent ; so I tried to laugh off 
their banter, but as soon as ever I could, I put down my 
name and beat a retreat. 

On the morrow, the ship was advertised to sail. So the 
rest of that day I spent in preparations. After in vain try- 
ing to sell my fowling-piece for a fair price to chance cus- 
tomers, I was walking up Chatham-street with it, when a 
curly-headed little man with a dark oily face, and a hook- 
ed nose, like the pictures of Judas Iscariot, called to me 
from a strange-looking shop, with three gilded balls hanging 
over it. 

With a peculiar accent, as if he had been over-eating him- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


33 


self with Indian- pudding or some other plushy compound, this 
curly headed little man very civilly invited me into his shop ; 
and making a polite bow, and bidding me many unnecessary 
good mornings, and remarking upon the fine weather, begged 
me to let him look at my fowling-piece. I handed it to him 
in an instant, glad of the chance of disposing of it, and told 
him that was just what I wanted. 

“ Ah !” said he, with his Indian-pudding accent again, 
which I will not try to mimic, and abating his look of eager- 
ness, “ I thought it was a better article, it’s very old.” 

“ No,” said I, starting in surprise, “ it’s not been used 
more than three times ; what will you give for it ?” 

“We dont buy any thing here,” said he, suddenly look- 
ing very indifferent, “ this is a place where people fawn 
things.” 

Fawn being a word I had never heard before, I asked 
him what it meant ; when he replied, that when people 
wanted any money, they came to him with their fowling- 
pieces, and got one third its value, and then left the fowling- 
piece there, until they were able to pay back the money. 

What a benevolent little old man, this must be, thought 
I, and how very obliging. 

“ And pray,” said I, “ how much will you let me have for 
my gun, by way of a pawn ?” 

“ Well, I suppose it’s worth six dollars, and seeing you’re 
a boy. I’ll let you have three dollars upon it.” 

“ No,” exclaimed I, seizing the fowling piece, “ it’s worth 
five times that, I’ll go somewhere else.” 

“ Good morning, then,” said he, “ I hope you’ll do bet- 
ter,” and he bowed me out as if he expected to see me again 
pretty soon. 

I had not gone very far, when I came across three more 
balls hanging over a shop. In I went, and saw a long 
counter, with a sort of picket-fence, running all along from 
end to end, and three little holes, with three little old men 
standing inside of them, like prisoners looking out of a jail 

B* 


34 


R E D B U R N : 


Back of the counter were all sorts of things, piled up and 
labeled. Hats, and caps, and coats, and guns, and swords, 
and canes, and chests, and planes, and books, and writing- 
desks, and every thing else. And in a glass case were lots 
of watches, and seals, chains, and rings, and breastpins, and 
all kinds of trinkets. At one of the little holes, earnestly 
talking with one of the hook-nosed men, was a thin woman 
in a faded silk gown and shawl, holding a pale little girl by 
the hand. As I drew near, she spoke lower in a whisper ; 
and the man shook his head, and looked cross and rude ; and 
then some more words were exchanged over a miniature, and 
some money was passed through the hole, and the woman 
and child shrank out of the door. 

I won’t sell my gun to that man, thought I ; and I passed 
on to the next hole ; and while waiting there to be served, 
an elderly man in a high-waisted surtout, thrust a silver 
snuff-box through ; and a young man in a calico shirt and a 
shiny coat with a velvet collar presented a silver watch ; and 
a sheepish boy in a cloak took out a frying-pan ; and another 
little boy had a Bible ; and all these things were thrust 
through to the hook-nosed man, who seemed ready to hook 
any thing that came along ; so I had no doubt he would 
gladly hook my gun, for the long picketed counter seemed 
like a great seine, that caught every variety of fish. 

At last I saw a chance, and crowded in for the hole ; and 
in order to be beforehand with a big man who just then came 
in, I pushed my gun violently through the hole ; upon which 
the hook-nosed man cried out, thinking I was going to shoot 
him. But at last he took the gun, turned it end for end, 
clicked the trigger three times, and then said, “ one dollar.” 

“ What about one dollar ?” said I. 

“ That’s all I’ll give,” he replied. 

“ Well, what do you want ?” and he turned to the next 
person. This was a young man in a seedy red cravat and 
a pimply face, that looked as if it was going to seed like- 
wise, who, with a mysterious tapping of his vest-pocket and 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


35 


other hints, made a great show of having something confi- 
dential to communicate. 

But the hook-nosed man spoke out very loud, and said, 
“ None of that ; take it out. Got a stolen watch ? We 
don’t deal in them things here.” 

Upon this the young man flushed all over, and looked 
round to see who had heard the pawnbroker ; then he took 
something very small out of his pocket, and keeping it hidden 
under his palm, pushed it into the hole. 

“ Where did you get this ring ?” said the pawnbroker. 

“ I want to pawn it,” whispered the other, blushing all 
over again. 

“ What’s your name ?” said the pawnbroker, speaking 
very loud. 

“How much will you give?” whispered the other in 
reply, leaning over, and looking as if he wanted to hush up 
the pawnbroker. 1 

At last the sum was agreed upon, when the man behind 
the counter took a little ticket, and tying the ring to it 
began to write on the ticket ; all at once he asked the young 
man where he lived, a question which embarrassed him very 
much ; but at last he stammered out a certain number in 
Broadway. 

“ That’s the City Hotel : you don’t live there,” said the 
man, cruelly glancing at the shabby coat before him, 

“ Oh ! well,” stammered the other blushing scarlet, “ I 
thought this was only a sort of form to go through ; I don’t 
like to tell where I do live, for I ain’t in the habit of going 
to pawnbrokers.” 

“ You stole that ring, you know you did,” roared out the 
hook-nosed man, incensed at this slur upon his calhng, and 
now seemingly bent on damaging the young man’s character 
for life. “ I’m a good mind to call a constable ; we don’t 
take stolen goods here, I tell you.” 

All eyes were now fixed suspiciously upon this martyrized 
young man ; who looked ready to drop into the earth ; and 


36 


REDBURN: 


a poor woman in a night-cap, with some baby-clothes in her 
hand, looked fearfully at the pawnbroker, as if dreading to 
encounter such a terrible pattern of integrity. At last the 
young man slunk off with his money, and looking out of the 
window, I saw him go round the corner so sharply that he 
knocked his elbow against the wall. 

I waited a little longer, and saw several more served ; 
and having remarked that the hook-nosed men invariably 
fixed their own price upon every thing, and if that was 
refused told the person to he off with himself ; I concluded 
that it would he of no use to try and get more from them 
than they had offered ; especially when I saw that they had 
a great many fowling-pieces hanging up, and did not have 
particular occasion for mine ; and more than that, they 
must be very well off and rich, to treat people so cavalierly. 

My best plan then seemed to be, to go right back to the 
curly-headed pawnbroker, and take up with my first offer. 
But when I went hack, the curly-headed man was very busy 
about something else, and kept me waiting a long time ; at 
last I got a chance and told him I would take the three 
dollars he had offered. 

“ Ought to have taken it when you could get it,” he 
replied. I won’t give but two dollars and a half for 'it 
now.” 

In vain I expostulated ; he was not to be moved, so I 
pocketed the money and departed. 


“v 


CHAPTER V. 


\ 

HE PURCHASES HIS SEA-WARDROBE, AND ON A DISMAL RAINY DAY 

PICKS UP HIS BOARD AND LODGING ALONG THE WHARVES. 

The first thing I now did was to buy a little st itionery, 
and keep my promise to my mother, by writing hei ; and I 
also wrote to my brother, informing him of the voyage I 
purposed making, and indulging in some romantic and mis- 
anthropic views of life, such as many boys in my circum- 
stances, are accustomed to do. 

The rest of the two dollars and a half I laid out that 
very morning in buying a red woolen shirt near Catharine 
Market, a tarpaulin hat, which I got at an out-door stand 
near Peck Slip, a belt and jack-knife, and two or three trifles. 
After these purchases, I had only one penny left, so I walked 
out to the end of the pier, and threw the penny into the 
water. The reason why I did this, was because I some- 
how felt almost desperate again, and didn’t care what 
became of me. But if the penny had been a dollar, I would 
have kept it. 

I went home to dinner at Mr. Jones’, and they welcomed 
me very kindly, and Mrs. Jones kept my plate full all the 
time during dinner, so that I had no chance to empty it. 
She seemed to see that I felt bad, and thought plenty of 
pudding might help me. At any rate, I never felt so bad 
yet, but I could eat a good dinner. And once, years after- 
ward, when I expected to be killed every day, I remember 
my appetite was very keen, and I said to myself, “Eat away, 
Wellingborough, while you can, for this may be the last sup- 
per you will have.” 

After dinner I went into my room, locked the door care- 


38 


REDBURN: 


fully, and hung a towel over the knob, so that no one could 
peep through the keyhole, and then went to trying on my 
red woolen shirt before the glass, to see what sort of a look- 
ing sailor I was going to make. As soon as I got into the 
shirt I began to feel a sort of warm and red about the face, 
which I found was owing to the reflection of the dyed wool 
upon my skin. After that, I took a pair of scissors and 
went to cutting my hair, which was very long. I thought 
every little would help, in making me a light hand to run 
aloft. 

Next morning I bade my kind host and hostess good-by, 
and left the house with my bundle, feeling somewhat misan- 
thropical and desperate again. ^ 

Before I reached the ship, it began to rain hard ; and as 
soon as I arrived at the wharf, it was plain that there would 
be no getting to sea that day. 

This was a great disappointment to me, for I did not 
want to return to Mr. Jones’ again after bidding them good- 
by ; it would be so awkward. So I concluded to go on 
board ship for the present. 

When I reached the deck, I saw no one but a large man 
in a large dripping pea-jacket, who was calking down the 
main-hatches. 

“ What do you want, Pillgarlic ?” said he. 

“ I’ve shipped to sail in this ship,” I replied, assuming a 
little dignity, to chastise his familiarity. 

“What for? a tailor?” said he, looking at my shooting 
jacket. * 

I answered that I was going as a “ boy for so I was 
technically put down on the articles. 

“ Well,” said he, “have you got your traps aboard ?” 

I told him I didn’t know there were any rats in the ship, 
and hadn’t brought any “ trap.” 

At this he laughed out with a great guffaw, and said 
there must be hay-seed in my hair. 

This made me mad ; but thinking he must be one of the 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


39 


sailors who was going in the ship, I thought it wouldn’t be 
wise to make an enemy oT him, so only asked him where the 
men slept in the vessel, for I wanted to put my clothes away. 

“ Where’s your clothes ?” said he. 

“ Here in my bundle,” said I, holding it up. 

“ Well if that’s all you’ve got,” he cried, you’d better 
chuck it overboard. But go forward, go forward to the fore- 
castle ; that’s the place you’ll hve in aboard here.” 

And with that he directed me to a sort of hole in the 
deck in the how of the ship ; but looking down, and seeing 
how dark it was, I asked him for a light. 

“ Strike your eyes together and make one,” said he, “ we 
don’t have any hghts here.” So I groped my way down 
into the forecastle, which smelt so bad of old ropes and tar, 
that it almost made me sick. After waiting patiently, I 
began to see a little ; and looking round, at last perceived 
I was in a smoky looking place, with twelve wooden boxes 
stuck round the sides. In some of these boxes were large 
chests, which I at once supposed to belong to the sailors, 
who must have taken that method of appropriating their 
“bunks,” as I afterward found these boxes were called. 
And so it turned out. 

After examining them for a while, I selected an empty 
one, and put my bundle right in the middle of it, so that 
there might be no mistake about my claim to the place, 
particularly as the bundle was so small. 

This done, I was glad to get on deck ; and learning to a 
certainty that the ship would not sail till the next day, I 
resolved to go ashore, and walk about till dark, and then 
return and sleep out the night in the forecastle. So I 
walked about all over, till I was weary, and went into a 
mean liquor shop to rest ; for having my tarpaulin on, and 
not looking very gentlemanly, I was afraid to go into any 
better place, for fear of being driven out. Here I sat till 
I began to feel very hungry ; and seeing some doughnuts on 
the counter, I began to think what a fool I had been, to 


40 


REDBURN: 


throw away my last penny ; for the doughnuts were hut 
a penny apiece, and they looked very plump, and fat, and 
round. I never saw doughnuts look so enticing before ; es- 
pecially when a negro came in, and ate one before my eyes. 
At last I thought I would fill up a little by drinking a glass 
of water ; having read somewhere that this was a good plan 
to follow in a case like the present. I did not feel thirsty, 
but only hungry ; so had much ado to get down the water ; 
for it tasted warm ; and the tumbler had an ugly flavor ; 
the negro had been drinking some spirits out of it just before. 

I marched .off again, every once in a while stopping to 
take in some more water, and being very careful not to step 
into the same shop twice, till night came on, and I found 
myself soaked through, for it had been raining more or less 
all day. As I went to the ship, I could not help thinking 
how lonesome it would be, to spend the whole night in that 
damp and dark forecastle, without light or fire, and nothing 
to lie on but the bare boards of my bunk. However, to 
drown all such thoughts, I gulped down another glass of 
water, though I was wet enough outside and in by this 
time ; and trying to put on a bold look, as if I had just 
been eating a hearty meal, I stepped aboard the ship. 

The man in the big pea-jacket was not to be seen ; but 
on going forward I unexpectedly found a young lad there, 
about my own age ; and as soon as he opened his mouth I 
knew he was not an American. He talked such a curious 
language though, half English and half gibberish, that I 
knew not what to make of him ; and was a little astonish- 
ed, when he told me he was an English boy, from Lanca- 
shire. 

It seemed, he had come over from Liverpool in this very 
ship on her last voyage, as a steerage passenger ; but find- 
ing that he would have to work very hard to get along in 
America, and getting home-sick into the bargain, he had ar- 
ranged with the captain to. work his passage back. 

I was glad to have some company, and tried to get him 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


41 


conversing ; but found he was the most stupid and ignorant 
boy I had ever met with. I asked him something about 
the river Thames ; when he said that he hadn’t traveled 
any in America and didn’t know any thing about the rivers 
here. And when I told him the river Thames was in En- 
gland, he showed no surprise or shame at his ignorance, but 
only looked ten times more stupid than before. 

At last we went below into the forecastle, and both get- 
ting into the same bunk, stretched ourselves out on the 
planks, and I tried my best to get asleep. But though my 
companion soon began to snore very loud, for me, I could 
not forget myself, owing to the horrid smell of the 'place, 
my being so wet, cold, and hungry, and besides all that, I 
felt damp and clammy about the heart. I lay turning over 
and over, listening to the Lancashire boy’s snoring, till at 
last I felt so, that I had to go on deck ; and there I walked 
till morning, which I thought would never come. 

As soon as I thought the groceries on the wharf would 
be open I left the ship and went to make my breakfast of 
another glass of water. But this made me very qualmish ; 
and soon I felt sick as death ; my head was dizzy ; and I 
went staggering along the walk, almost blind. At last I 
dropt on a heap of chain-cable, and shutting my eyes hard, 
did my best to rally myself, in which I succeeded, at last, 
enough to get up and walk off. Then I thought that I 
had done wrong in not returning to my friend’s house the 
day before ; and would have walked there now, as it was, 
only it was at least three miles up town ; too far for me to 
walk in such a state, and I had no sixpence to ride in an 
omnibus. 


CHAPTER VI. 


HE IS INITIATED IN THE BUSINESS OF CLEANING OUT THE 
PIG-PEN, AND SLUSHING DOWN THE TOP-MAST. 

By the time I got back to the ship, every thing was in 
an uproar. The pea-jacket man was there, ordering about 
a good many men in the rigging, and people were bringing 
off chickens, and pigs, and beef, and vegetables from the 
shore. Soon after, another man, in a striped calico shirt, a 
short blue jacket and beaver hat, made his appearance, and 
went to ordering about the man in the big pea-jacket ; and 
at last the captain came up the side, and began to order 
about both of them. 

These two men turned out to be the first and second 
mates of the ship. 

Thinking to make friends with the second mate, I took 
out an old tortoise-shell snuffbox of my father’s, in which I 
had put a piece of Cavendish tobacco, to look sailor-like, 
and offered the box to him very politely. He stared at me 
a moment, and then exclaimed, “ Do you think we take 
snuff aboard here, youngster ? no, no, no time for snuff- 
taking at sea ; don’t let the ‘ old man ’ see that snuff- 
box ; take my advice and pitch it overboard as quick as 
you can.” 

I told him it was not snuff, but tobacco ; when he said, 
he had plenty of tobacco of his own, and never carried any 
such nonsense about him as a tobacco-box. With that, he 
went off about his business, and left me feeling foolish 
enough. But I had reason to be glad he had acted thus, 
for if he had not, I think I should have offered my box to 
the chief mate, who in that case, from what I afterward 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


43 


learned of him, would have knocked me down, or done 
something else equally uncivil. 

As I was standing looking round me, the chief mate ap- 
proached in a great hurry about something, and seeing me 
in his way, cried out, “ Ashore with you, you young loafer ! 
There’s no stealings here ; sail away, I tell you, with that 
shooting-jacket !” 

Upon this I retreated, saying that I was going out in the 
ship as a sailor. 

“ A sailor !” he cried, “ a barber’s clerk, you mean ; yoic 
going out in the ship ? what, in that jacket ? Hang me, I 
hope the old man hasn’t been shipping any more greenhorns 
like you — She’ll make a shipwreck of it if he has. But this 
is the way nowadays ; to save a few dollars in seamen’s 
wages, they think nothing of shipping a parcel of farmers 
and clodhoppers and baby-boys. What’s your name, Pill- 
garlic ?” 

“ Redburn,” said I. 

“ A pretty handle to a man, that ; scorch you to take 
hold of it ; havn’t you got any other ?” 

“ Wellingborough,” said I. 

“Worse yet. Who had the baptizing of ye? Why 
didn’t they call you Jack, or Jill, or something short and 
handy. But I’ll baptize you over again. D’ye hear, sir, 
henceforth your name is Buttons. And now do you go. 
Buttons, and clean out that pig-pen in the long-boat ; it has 
not been cleaned out since last voyage. And bear a hand 
about it, d’ye hear ; there’s them pigs there waiting to be 
put inj come, be off about it, now.” 

Was this then the beginning of my sea-career ? set to 
cleaning out a pig-pen, the very first thing ? 

But I thought it best to say nothing; I had bound my- 
self to obey orders, and it was too late to retreat. So I only 
asked for a shovel, or spade, or something else to work with. 

“We don’t dig gardens here,” was the reply ; “ dig it out 
with your teeth !” 


44 


R E D B U R N : 


After looking round, I found a stick and went to scraping 
out the pen, which was awkward work enough, for another 
boat called the “jolly-boat,” was capsized right over the 
long-boat, which brought them almost close together. These 
two boats were in the middle of the deck. I managed to 
crawl inside of the long-boat ; and after barking my shins 
against the seats, and bumping my head a good many times, 
I got along to the stern, where the pig-pen was. 

While I was hard at work a drunken sailor peeped in, 
and cried out to his comrades, “ Look here, my lads, what 
sort of a pig do you call this ? Hallo ! inside there ! what 
are you ’bout there ? trying to stow yourself away to steal 
a passage to Liverpool? Out of that ! out of that, I say.” 
But just then the mate came along and ordered this drunken 
rascal ashore. 

The pig-pen being cleaned out, I was set to work picking 
up some shavings, which lay about the deck ; for there had 
been carpenters at work on board. The mate ordered me to 
throw these shavings into the long-boat at a particular place 
between two of the seats. But as I found it hard work to 
push the shavings through in that place, and as it looked 
wet there, I thought it would be better for the shavings as 
well as myself, to thrust them where there was a* larger 
opening and a dry spot. While I was thus employed, the 
mate observing me, exclaimed with an oath, “ Didn’t I tell 
you to put those shavings somewhere else ? Do what I tell 
you, now. Buttons, or mind your eye !” 

Stifling my indignation at his rudeness, which by this 
time T found was my only plan, I replied that that was not 
so good a place for the shavings as that which I myself had 
selected, and asked him to tell me why he wanted me to put 
them in the place he designated. Upon this, he flew into a 
terrible rage, and without explanation reiterated his order 
like a clap of thunder. 

This was my first lesson in the discipline of the sea, and I 
never forgot it. From that time I learned that sea-officers 


HIS FIRST. VOYAGE. 


45 


never gave reasons for any thing they order to be done. It 
is enough that they command it, so that the motto is, “ Oheij 
orders, though you break owners^ 

I now began to feel very faint and sick again, and longed 
for the ship to be leaving the dock ; for then I made no doubt 
we would soon be having something to eat. But as yet, I 
saw none of the sailors on board, and as for the men at work 
in the rigging, I found out that they were riggers” that 
is, men living ashore, who worked by the day in getting ships 
ready for sea ; and this I found out to my cost, for yielding 
to the kind blandishment of one of these riggers, I had 
swapped away my jack-knife with him for a much poorer 
one of his own, thinking to secure a sailor friend for the 
voyage. 

At last I watched my chance, and while people’s backs 
were turned, I seized a carrot from several bunches lying 
on deck, and clapping it under the skirts of my shooting- 
jacket, went forward to eat it ; for I had often eaten raw 
carrots, which taste^ something like chestnuts. This carrot 
refreshed me a good deal, though at the expense of a little 
pain in my stomach. Hardly had I disposed of it, when I 
heard the chief mate’s voice crying out for “ Buttons.” I 
ran after him, and received an order to go aloft and “ slush 
down the main-top mast.” 

This was all Greek to me, and after receiving the order, 
I stood staring about me, wondering what it was that was 
to be done. But the mate had turned on his heel, and 
made no explanations. At length I followed after him, and 
asked what I must do. 

“ Didn’t I tell you to slush down the main-top mast ?” he 
shouted. 

“ You did,” said I, “ but I don’t know what that means.” 

“ Green as grass ! a regular cabbage-head !” he exclaimed 
to himself A fine time I’ll have with such a greenhorn 
aboard. Look you, youngster. Look up to that long pole 
there — d’ye see it ? that piece of a tree there, you timber- 


46 


REDBURN: 


head — well — take this bucket here, and go up the rigging — 
that rope-ladder there — do you understand ? — and dab this 
slush all over the mast, and look out for your head if one 
drop falls on deck. Be off now. Buttons.” 

The eventful hour had arrived ; for the first time in my 
life I was to ascend a ship’s mast. Had I been well and 
hearty, perhaps I should have felt a little shaky at the 
thought ; but as I was then, weak and faint, the bare 
thought appalled me. 

But there was no hanging back ; it would look like cow- 
ardice, and I could not bring myself to confess that I was 
suffering for want of food ; so rallying again, I took up the 
bucket. 

It was a heavy bucket, with strong iron hoops, and might 
have held perhaps two gallons. But it was only half full 
now of a sort of thick lobbered gravy, which I afterward 
learned was boiled out of the salt beef used by the sailors. 
Upon getting into the rigging, I found it was no easy job to 
carry this heavy bucket up with me. The rope handle of 
it was so slippery with grease, that although I twisted it 
several times about my wrist, it would be still twirling 
round and round, and slipping off. Spite of this, however, 
I managed to mount as far as the “ top,” the clumsy bucket 
half the time straddling and swinging about between my 
legs, and in momentary danger of capsizing. Arrived at 
the “ top,” I came to a dead halt, and looked up. How to 
surmount that overhanging impediment completely posed me 
for the time. But at last, with much straining, I contrived 
to place my bucket in the “ top ;” and then, trusting to 
Providence, swung myself up after it. The rest of the road 
was comparatively easy ; though whenever I incautiously 
looked down toward the deck, my head spun round so from 
weakness, that I was obliged to shut my eyes to recover 
myself. I do not remember much more. I only recollect 
my safe return to the deck. 

In a short time the bustle of the ship increased ; the 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


47 


trunks of cabin passengers arrived, and the chests and boxes 
of the steerage passengers, besides baskets of wine and fruit 
for the captain. 

At last we cast loose, and swinging out into the stream, 
came to anchor, and hoisted the signal for sailing. Every 
thing, it seemed, was on board but the crew ; who in a few 
hours after, came off, one by one, in Whitehall boats, their 
chests in the bow, and themselves lying back in the stern 
like lords ; and showing very plainly the complacency they 
felt in keeping the whole ship waiting for their lordships. 

“ Ay, ay,” muttered the chief mate, as they rolled out of 
their boats and swaggered on deck, “ it’s your turn now, but 
it will be mine before long. Yaw about while you may, my 
hearties. I’ll do the yawing after the anchor’s up.” 

Several of the sailors were very drunk, and one of them 
was lifted on board insensible by his landlord, who carried 
him down below and dumped him into a bunk. And two 
other sailors, as soon as they made their appearance, imme- 
diately went below to sleep off the fumes of their drink. 

At last, all the crew being on board, word was passed to 
go to dinner fore and aft, an order that made my heart jump 
with delight, for now my long fast would be broken. But 
though the sailors, surfeited with eating and drinking ashore, 
did not then touch the salt beef and potatoes which the 
black cook handed down into the forecastle ; and though this 
left the whole allowance to me ; to my surprise, I found that 
I could eat little or nothing ; for now I only felt deadly 
faint, but not hungry. 


CHAPTER VII. 

HE GETS TO SEA, AND FEELS VERY BAD. 

Every thing at last being in readiness, the pilot came on 
board, and all hands were called to up anchor. While I 
worked at my bar, I could not help observing how haggard 
the men looked, and how much they suffered from this vio- 
lent exercise, after the terrific dissipation in which they had 
been indulging ashore. But I soon learnt that sailors 
breathe nothing about such things, but strive their best to 
appear all alive and hearty," though it comes very hard for 
many of them. 

The anchor being secured, a steam tug-boat with a 
strong name, the Hercules, took hold of us ; and away we 
went past the long line of shipping, and wharves, and ware- 
houses ; and rounded the green south point of the island 
where the Battery is, and passed Governor’s Island, and 
pointed right out for the Narrows. 

' My heart was like lead, and I felt bad’ enough. Heaven 
knows ; but then, there was plenty of work to be done, 
which kept my thoughts from becoming too much for me. 

And I tried to think all the time, that I was going to 
England, and that, before many months, I should have actu- 
ally been there and home again, telling my adventures to 
my brothers and sisters ; and with what delight they would 
" listen, and how they would look up to me then, and rev- 
erence my sayings ; and how that even my elder brother 
would be forced to treat me with great consideration, as 
having crossed the Atlantic Ocean, which he had never 
done, and there was no probability he ever would. 

With such thoughts as these I endeavored to shake off 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


49 


my heavy-heartedness ; but it would not do at all ; for this 
was only the first day of the voyage? and many weeks, nay, 
several whole months must elapse before the voyage was 
ended ; and who could tell what might happen to me ; for 
when I looked up at the high, giddy masts, and thought 
how often I must be going up and down them, I thought 
sure enough that some luckless day or other, I would cer- 
tainly fall overboard and be drowned. And then, I thought 
of lying down at the bottom of the sea, stark alone, with 
the great waves rolling over me, and no one in the wide 
world knowing that I was there. And I thought how 
much better and sweeter it must be, to be buried under the 
pleasant hedge that bounded the sunny south side of our 
village grave-yard, where every Sunday I had used to walk 
after church in the afternoon ; and I almost wished I was 
there now ; yes, dead and buried in that church-yard. All 
the time my eyes were filled with tears, and I kept holding 
my breath, to choke down the sobs, for. indeed I could not 
help feeling as I did, and no doubt any boy in the world 
would have felt just as I did then. 

As the steamer carried us further and further down the 
bay, and we passed ships lying at anchor, with men gazing 
at us and waving their hats ; and small boats with ladies 
in them waving their handkerchiefs ; and passed the green 
shore of Staten Island, and caught sight of so many beau- 
tiful cottages all overrun with vines, and planted on the 
beautiful fresh mossy hill-sides ; oh ! then I would have 
given any thing if instead of sailing out of the bay, we 
were only coming into it ; if we had crossed the ocean and 
returned, gone over and come back ; and my heart leaped 
up in me like something alive when I thought of really en- 
tering that bay at the end of the voyage. But that was so 
far distant, that it seemed it could never be. No, never, 
never more would I see New York again. 

And what shocked me more than any thing else, was to 
hear some of the sailors, while they were at work coiling 

C 


50 


REDBURN: 


away the hawsers, talking about the boarding-houses they 
were going to, when they came back ; and how that some 
friends of theirs had promised to be on the wharf when the 
ship returned, to take them and their chests right up to 
Franklin-square where they lived ; and how that they 
would have a good dinner ready, and plenty of cigars and 
spirits out on the balcony. I say this kind of talking 
shocked me, for they did not seem to consider, as I did, that 
before any thing like that could happen, we must cross the 
great Atlantic Ocean, cross over from America to Europe 
and back again, many thousand miles of foaming ocean. 

At that time I did not know what to make of these sailors ; 
but this much I thought, that when they were boys, they 
could never have gone to the Sunday School ; for they swore 
so, it made my ears tingle, and used words that I never could 
Sear without a dreadful loathing. 

And are these the men, I thought to myself, that I must 
live with so long ? these the men I am to eat with, ^nd 
sleep with all the time ? And besides, I now began to see, 
that they were not going to be very kind to me ; but I will 
tell all about that when the proper time comes. 

Now you must not think, that because all these things 
were passing through my mind, that I had nothing to do 
but sit still and think ; no, no, I was hard at work : for as 
long as the steamer had hold of us, we were very busy coiling 
away ropes and cables, and putting the decks in order ; which 
were littered all over with odds and ends of things that had 
to be put away. 

At last we got as far as the Narrows, which every body 
knows is the entrance to New York Harbor from sea ; and 
it may well be called the Narrows, for when you go in or 
out, it seems like going in or out of a door-way ; and when 
you go out of these Narrows on a long voyage like this of 
mine, it seems like going out into the broad highway, Avhere 
not a soul is to be seen. For far away and away, stretches 
the great Atlantic Ocean ; and all you can see beyond is 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


51 


where the sky comes down to the water. It looks lonely 
and desolate enough, and I could hardly believe, as I gazed 
around me, that there could be any land beyond, or any 
place hke Europe or England or Liverpool m the great 
■v^dde world. It seemed too strange, and wonderful, and alto- 
gether incredible, that there could really he cities and to\vns 
and villages and green fields and hedges and farm-yards 
and orchards, away over that wide blank of sea, and away 
beyond the place where the sky came down to the water. 
And to think of steering right out among those waves, and 
leaving the bright land behind, and the dark night coming 
on, too, seemed wild and foolhardy ; and I looked with a 
sort of fear at the sailors standing by me, who could be so 
thoughtless at such a time. But then I remembered, how 
many times my ovm father had said he had crossed the 
ocean ; and I had never dreamed of such a thing as doubt-" 
ing him ; for I always thought him a marvelous being, infi- 
nitely purer and greater than I was, who could not by any 
possibility do wTong, or say an untruth. Yet now, how 
could I credit it, that he, my owm father, whom I so well 
remembered, had ever sailed out of these Narrows, and sailed 
right through the sky and water line, and gone to England, 
and France, Liverpool, and Marseilles. It was too wonder- 
ful to beheve. 

Now, on the right hand side of the Narrows as you go 
out, the land is quite high ; and on the top of a fine clifi' is 
a great castle or fort, all in ruins, and with the trees grow- 
ing round it. It was built by Governor Tompkins in the 
time of the last war with England, but was never used, I 
beheve, and so they left it to decay. I had visited the place 
once when we lived in New York, as long ago almost as I 
could remember, with my father, and an uncle of mine, an 
old sea-captain, with white hair, who used to sail to a place 
called Archangel in Russia, and who used to tell me that 
he was with Captain LangsdorfT, when Captain LangsdorfT 
crossed over by land from the sea of Okotsk in Asia to St. 


52 


REDBURN: 


Petersburgh, drawn by large dogs in a sled. I mention this 
of my uncle, because he was the very first sea-captain I had 
ever seen, and his white hair and fine handsome florid face 
made so strong an impression upon me, that I have never 
forgotten him, though I only saw him during this one visit 
of his to New York, for he was lost in the White Sea some 
years after. 

But I meant to speak about the fort. It was a beautiful 
place, as I remembered it, .and very wonderful and romantic, 
too, as it appeared to me, when I went there with my uncle. 
On the side away from the water was a green grove of trees, 
very thick and shady ; and through this grove, in a sort of 
twilight you came to an arch in the wall of the fort, dark 
as night ; and going in, you groped about in long vaults, 
twisting and turning on every side, till at last you caught a 
peep of green grass and sunlight, and all at once came out 
in an open space in the middle of the castle. And there 
you would see cows quietly grazing, or ruminating under ^the 
shade of young trees, and perhaps a calf frisking about, and 
trying to catch its own tail ; and sheep clambering among 
the mossy ruins, and cropping the little tufts of grass sprout- 
ing out of the sides of the embrasures for cannon. And once 
I saw a black goat with a long beard, and crumpled horns, 
standing with his fore-feet lifted high up on the topmost par- 
apet, and looking to sea, as if he were watching for a ship 
that was bringing over his cousin. I can see him even now, 
and though I have changed since then, the black goat looks 
just the same as ever ; and so I suppose he would, if I live 
to be as old as Methusaleh, and have as great a memory as 
he must have had. Yes, the fort was a beautiful, quiet, 
charming spot. I should like to build a little cottage in the 
middle of it, and live there all my life. It was noon-day 
when I was there, in the month of June, and there was 
little wind to stir the trees, and every thing looked as if it 
was waiting for something, and the sky overhead was blue 
as my mother’s eye, and I was so glad and happy then. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


53 


But I must not think of those delightful days, before my 
father became a bankrupt, and died, and we removed from 
the city ; for when I think of those days, something rises 
up in my throat and almost strangles me. 

Now, as we sailed through the Narrows, I caught sight 
of that beautiful fort on the cliff, and could not help con- 
trasting my situation now, with what it was when with my 
father and uncle I went there so long ago. Then I never 
thought of w'orking for my living, and never Imew that there 
were hard hearts in the world ; and knew so little of money, 
that when I bought a stick of candy, and laid down a six- 
pence, I thought the confectioner returned five cents, only 
that I might have money to buy something else, and not be- 
cause the pennies were my change, and therefore nune by 
good rights. How different my idea of money now ! 

Then I was a schoolboy, and thought of going to college 
in time ; and had vague thoughts of becoming a great orator 
like Patrick Henry, whose speeches I used to speak on the 
stage ; but now, I was a poor friendless boy, far away from 
my home, and voluntarily in the way of becoming a mis- 
erable sailor for life. And what made it more bitter to me, 
was to think of how well off were my cousins, who were 
happy and rich, and lived at home with my uncles and aunts, 
with no thought of going to sea for a living. I tried to 
think that it was all a dream, that I was not where I was, 
not on board of a ship, but that I was at home again in the 
city, with my father alive, and my mother bright and happy 
as she used to be. But it would not do. I was indeed 
where I was, and here was the ship, and there was the fort. 
So, after casting a last look at some boys who were standing 
on the parapet, gazing off to sea, I turned away heavily, and 
resolved not to look at the land any more. 

About sunset we got fairly “outside,” and well may it so 
be called ; for I felt thrust out of the world. Then the 
breeze began to blow, and the sails were loosed, and hoisted ; 
and after a while, the steamboat left us, and for the first 


54 


REDBURN: 


time I felt the ship roll, a strange feeling enough, as if it 
were a great barrel in the water. Shortly after, I observed 
a swift little schooner running across our bows, and re-cross- 
ing again and again ; and while I was wondering what she 
could be, she suddenly lowered her sails, and two men took 
hold of a little boat on her deck, and launched it overboard 
as if it had been a chip. Then I noticed that our pilot, a 
red-faced man in a rough blue coat, who to my astonish- 
ment had all this time been giving orders instead of the 
captain ; I noticed that he began to button up his coat to 
the throat, like a prudent person about leaving a house at 
night in a lonely square, to go home ; and he left the giving 
orders to the chief mate, and stood apart talking with the 
captain, and put his hand into his pocket, and gave him 
' some newspapers. 

And in a few minutes, when we had stopped our head- 
way, and allowed the little boat to come alongside, he shook 
hands with the captain and officers and bade them good-by, 
without saying a syllable of farewell to me and the sailors ; 
and so he went laughing over the side, and got into the boat, 
and they pulled him off to the schooner, and then the schoon- 
er made sail and glided under our stern, her men standing up 
and waving their hats, and cheering ; and that was the last 
we saw of America. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


HE IS PUT INTO THE LARBOARD WATCH ; GETS SEA-SICK ; 

AND RELATES SOME OTHER OF HIS EXPEPMENCES. 

It was now getting dark, when all at once the sailors 
were ordered on the quarter-deck, and of course I went along 
with them'. 

What is to come now, thought I ; but I soon found out. 
It seemed we were going to be divided into watches. The 
chief mate began by selecting a stout good-looking sailor for 
his watch ; and then the second mate’s turn came to choose, 
and he also chose a stout good-looking sailor. But it was 
not me ; — ^no ; and I noticed, as they went on choosing, one 
after the other in regular rotation, that both of the mates 
never so much as looked at me, but kept going round among 
the rest, peering into their faces, for it was dusk, and telling 
them not to hide themselves away so in their jackets. But 
the sailors, especially the stout good-looking ones, seemed to 
make a point of lounging as much out of the way as possible, 
and slouching their hats over their eyes ; and although it 
may only be a fancy of mine, I certainly thought that they 
affected a sort of lordly indifference as to whose watch they 
were going to be in ; and did not think it worth while to 
look any way anxious about the matter. And the very men 
who, a few minutes before, had showed the most alacrity and 
promptitude in jumping into the rigging and running aloft at 
the word of command, now lounged against the bulwarks 
the most lazily ; as if they were quite sure, that by this 
time the officers must know who the |)est men were, and 
they valued themselves well enough to be willing to put the 
officers to the trouble of searching them out ; for if they 
were worth having, they were worth seeking. 


56 


R E D B U R N : 


At last they were all chosen but me ; and it was the 
chief mate’s next turn to choose ; though there could be 
little choosing in my case, since I was a thirteener, and 
must, whether or no, go over to the next column, like the 
odd figure you carry along when you do a sum in addition. 

“ Well, Buttons,” said the chief mate, “ I thought I’d 
got rid of you. And as it is, Mr. Bigs,” he added, speaking 
to the second mate, “ I guess you had better take him into 
your ’watch ; — there. I’ll let you have him, and then you’ll 
be one stronger than me.” 

“ No, I thank you,” said Mr. Bigs. 

“You had better,” said the chief mate — “ see, he’s not a 
bad looking chap — he’s a little green, to be sure, but you 
were so once yourself, you know. Bigs.” 

“ No, I thank you,” said the second mate again. “ Take 
him yourself — ^lie’s yours by good rights — I don’t want 
him.” And so they put me in the chief mate’s division, 
that is the larboard watch. ^ 

While this scene was going on, I felt shabby enough ; 
there I stood, just like a silly sheep, over whom two butchers 
are bargaining. Nothing that had yet happened so forcibly 
reminded me of where I was, and what I had come to. I 
was very glad when they sent us forward again. 

As we were going forward, the second mate called one of 
the sailors by name : — “ You, Bill ?” and Bill answered, 
* “Sir?” just as if the second mate was a born gentleman. 
It surprised me not a little, to see a man in such a shabby, 
shaggy old jacket addressed so respectfully ; but I had been 
quite as much surprised when I heard the chief mate call 
him Mr. Bigs during the scene on the quarter-.deck ; as if 
this Mr. Rigs was a great merchant living in a marble 
house in Lafayette Place. But I was not very long in find- 
ing out, that at sea all officers are Misters, and would take 
it for an insult if any seaman presumed to omit calling them 
so. And it is also one of their rights and privileges to be 
called sir when addressed — Yes, sir; No, sir; Ay, ay. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


57 


sir: and they are as particular about being sirred as so 
many knights and baronets ; though their titles are not he- 
reditary, as is the case with the Sir Johns and Sir Joshuas 
in England. But so far as the second mate is concerned, 
his titles are the only dignities he enjoys ; for, upon the 
whole, he leads a puppyish life indeed. He is not deemed 
company at any time for the captain, though the chief mate 
occasionally is, at least deck-company, though not in the 
cabin ; and besides this, the second mate has to breakfast, 
lunch, dine, and sup off the leavings of the cabin table, and 
even the steward, who is accountable to nobody but the 
captain, sometimes treats him cavalierly ; and he has to run 
aloft when topsails are reefed ; and put his hand a good way 
down into the tar-bucket ; and keep the key of the boat- 
swain’s locker, and fetch and carry balls of marline and 
seizing-stuff for the sailors when at work in the rigging ; 
besides doing many other things, which a true-born baronet 
of any spirit would rather die and give up his title than 
stand. 

Having been divided into watches we were sent to sup- 
per ; but I could not eat any thing except a little biscuit, 
though I should have liked to have some good tea ; but as 
I had no pot to get it in, and was rather nervous about 
asking the rough sailors to let me drink out of theirs ; I was 
obliged to go without a sip. I thought of going to the 
black cook and begging a tin cup ; but he looked so cross 
and ugly then, that the sight of him almost frightened the 
idea out of me. 

When supper was over, for they never talk about going 
to tea aboard of a ship, the watch to which I belonged was 
called on deck ; and we were told it was for us to stand 
the first night watch, that is, from eight o’clock till mid- 
night. 

I now began to feel unsettled and ill at ease about the 
stomach, as if matters were all topsy-turvy there ; and felt 
strange and giddy about the head ; and so I made no doubt 

c# 


58 


RE DBURN: 


that this was the beginning of that dreadful thing, the sea- 
sickness. Feeling worse and worse, I told one of the sail- 
ors how it was with me, and begged him to make my ex- 
cuses very civilly to the chief mate, for I thought I would 
go below and spend the night in my bunk. But he only 
laughed at me, and said something about my mother not 
being aware of my being out ; which enraged me not a little, 
that a man whom I had heard swear so terribly, should dare 
to take such a holy name into his mouth. It seemed a sort 
of blasphemy, and it seemed like dragging out the best and 
most cherished secrets of my soul, for at that time the name 
of mother was the center of all my heart’s finest feelings, which 
ere that, I had learned to keep secret, deep down in my being. 

But I did not outwardly resent the sailor’s words, for 
that would have only made .the matter worse. 

Now this man was a Greenlander by birth, with a very 
white skin where the sun had not burnt it, and handsome 
blue eyes placed wide apart in his head, and a broad goQd- 
humored face, and plenty of curly flaxen hair. He was 
not very tall, but exceedingly stout-built, though active ; 
and his back was as broad as a shield, and it was a great 
way between his shoulders. He seemed to be a sort of 
lady’s sailor, for in his broken English he was always talk- 
ing about the nice ladies of his acquaintance in Stockholm 
and Copenhagen and a place he called the Hook, which at 
first I fancied must be the place where lived the hook-nosed 
men that caught fowling-pieces and every other article that 
came along. He was dressed very tastefully, too, as if he 
knew he was a good-looking fellow. He had on a new blue 
woolen Havre frock, with a new silk handkerchief round his 
neck, passed through one of the vertebral bones of a shark, 
highly polished and carved. His trowsers were of clear 
white duck, and he sported a handsome pair of pumps, and 
a tarpaulin hat bright as a looking-glass, with a long black 
ribbon streaming behind, and getting entangled every now 
and then in the rigging ; and he had gold anchors in his 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


69 


ears, and a silver ring on one of his fingers, which was 
very much worn and bent from pulling ropes and other 
work on board ship. I thought he might better have left 
his jewelry at home. 

It was a long time before I could believe that this man 
was really from Greenland, though he looked strange enough 
to me, then, to have come from the moon ; and he was full 
of stories about that distant country ; how they passed 
the winters there ; and how bitter cold it was ; and how 
he used to go to bed and sleep twelve hours, and get 
up again and run about, and go to bed again, and get up 
again — there was no telling how many times, and all in one 
night ; for in the winter time in his country, he said, the 
nights were so many weeks long, that a Greenland baby 
was sometimes three months old, before it could properly be 
said to be a day old. 

I had seen mention made of such things before, in books 
of voyages ; but that was only reading about them, just as 
you read the Arabian Nights, which no one ever believes ; 
for somehow, when I read about these wonderful countries, I 
never used really to believe what I read, but only thought 
it very strange, and a good deal too strange to be altogether 
true ; though I never thought the men who wrote the book 
meant to tell lies. But I don’t know exactly how to ex- 
plain what I mean ; but this much I will say, that I never 
believed in Greenland till I saw this Greenlander. And at 
first, hearing him talk about Greenland, only made me still 
more incredulous. For what business had a man from 
Greenland to be in my company ? Why was he not at 
home among the icebergs , and how could he stand a warm 
summer’s sun, and not be melted away ? Besides, instead 
of icicles, there were ear-rings hanging from his ears ; and 
he did not wear bear-skins, and keep his hands in a huge 
muff ; things, which I could not help connecting with Green- 
land and all Greenlanders. 

But I was telling about my being sea-sick and wanting 


60 


E E D B U R N : 


to retire for the night. This Greenlander seeing I was ill, 
volunteered to turn doctor and cure me ; so going down into 
the forecastle, he came back with a brown jug, like a molas- 
ses jug, and a Tittle tin cannikin, and as soon as the brown 
jug got near my nose, I needed no telling what was in it, 
for it smelt like a still-house, and sure enough proved to be 
full of Jamaica spirits. 

“ Now, Buttons,” said he, “ one little dose of this will be 
better for you than a whole night’s sleep ; there, take that 
now, and then eat seven or eight biscuits, and you’ll feel as 
strong as the mainmast.” 

But I felt very little like doing as I was bid, for I had 
some scruples about drinking spirits ; and to tell the plain 
truth, for I am not ashamed of it, I was a member of a 
society in the' village where my mother lived, called the 
Juvenile Total Abstinence Association, of which my friend, 
Tom Legare, was president, secretary, and treasurer, and 
kept the funds in a little purse that his cousin knit for him. 
There was three and sixpence on hand, I believe, the last 
time he brought in his accounts, on a May day, when we 
had a meeting in a grove on the river-bank. Tom w'as a 
very honest treasurer, and never spent the Society’s 'money 
for peanuts ; and besides all, was a fine, generous boy, whom 
I much loved. But I must not talk about Tom now. 

When the Greenlander came to me with his jug of medi- 
cine, I thanked him as well as I could ; for just then I was 
leaning with my mouth over the side, feeling ready to die ; 
but I managed to tell him I was under a solemn obligation 
never to drink spirits upon any consideration whatever ; 
though, as I had a sort of presentiment that the spirits 
would now, for once in my life, do me good, I began to feel 
sorry, that when I signed the pledge of abstinence, I had 
not taken care to insert a little clause, allowing me to drink 
spirits in case of sea-sickness. And I would advise temper- 
ance people to attend to this matter in future ; and then if 
they come to go to sea, there will be no need of breaking 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


61 


their pledges, whieh I am truly sorry to say was the case 
with me. And a hard thing it was, too, thus to break a 
vow before unbroken ; especially as the Jamaica tasted any 
thing but agreeable, and indeed burnt my mouth so, that I 
did not relish my meals for some time after. Even when 1 
had become quite well and strong again, I wondered how 
the sailors could really like such stufi'; but many of them 
had a jug of it, besides the Greenlander, which they brought 
along to sea with them, to taper off ivith, as they called it. 
But this tapering off did not last very long, for the Jamaica 
was all gone on the second day, and the jugs were tossed 
overboard. I wonder where they are now ? 

But to tell the truth, I found, in spite of its sharp taste, 
the spirits I drank was just the thing I needed ; but I sup- 
pose, if I could have had a cup of nice hot coffee, it would 
have done quite as well, and perhaps much better. But 
that was not to be had at that time of night, or, indeed, at 
any other time ; for the thing they called coffee, which was 
given to us every morning at breakfast, was the most curious 
tasting drink I ever drank, and tasted as little like coffee, as 
it did like lemonade ; though, to be sure, it was generally as 
cold as lemonade, and I used to think the cook had an ice- 
house, and dropt ice into his coffee. But what was more 
curious still, was the different quality and taste of it on dif- 
ferent mornings. Sometimes it tasted fishy, as if it was a 
decoction of Dutch herrings ; and then it would taste very 
salt, as if some old horse, or sea-beef, had been boiled in it ; 
and then again it would taste a sort of cheesy, as if the 
captain had sent his cheese-parings forward to make our 
coffee pf ; and yet another time it would have such a very 
bad flavor, that I was almost ready to think some old stock- 
ing-heels had been boiled in it. What under heaven it was 
made of, that it had so many different bad flavors, always 
remained a mystery ; for when at work at his vocation, our 
old cook used to keep himself close shut up in his caboose, a 
little cook-house, and never told any of his’secrets. 


62 


RED BURN; 


Though a very serious character, as I shall hereafter 
show, he was for all that, and perhaps for that identical 
reason, a very suspicious looking sort of a cook, that I don’t 
believe would ever succeed in getting the cooking at Del- 
monico’s in New York. It was well for him that he was a 
black cook, for I have no doubt his color kept us from see- 
ing his dirty face ; I never saw him wash but once, and that 
was at one of his own soup pots one dark night when he 
thought no one saw him. What induced him to be wash- 
ing his face then, I never could find out ; but I suppose he 
must have suddenly waked up, after dreaming about some 
real estate on his cheeks. As for his coffee, notwithstanding 
the disagreeableness of its flavor, I always used to have a 
strange curiosity every morning, to see what new taste it 
was going to have ; and though, sure enough, I never missed 
making a new discovery, and adding another taste to my 
palate, I never found that there was any change in the bad- 
ness of the beverage, which always seemed the same in ^ that 
respect as before. 

It may well be believed, then, that now when I was sea- 
sick, a cup of such cofiee as our old cook made would have 
done me no good, if indeed it would not have come near 
making an end of me. And bad as it was, and since it 
was not to be had at that time of night, as I said before, 
I think I was excusable in taking something else in place of 
it, as I did ; and under the circumstances, it would be un- 
handsome of them, if my fellow-members of the Temperance 
Society should reproach me for breaking my bond, which I 
would not have done except in case of necessity. But the 
evil effect of breaking one’s bond upon any occasion what- 
ever, was witnessed in the present case ; for it insidiously 
opened the way to subsequent breaches of it, which though 
very slight, yet carried no apology with them. 


CHAPTER IX. 


THE SAILORS BECOMING- A LITTLE SOCIAL, REDBURN CON- 
VERSES WITH THEM. 

The latter part of this first long watch that we stood was 
very pleasant, so far as the weather was concerned. From 
being rather cloudy, it became a soft moonlight ; and the stars 
peeped out, plain enough to count one by one ; and there 
was a fine steady breeze ; and it was not very cold ; and 
we were going through the water almost as smooth as a sled 
sliding down hill. And what was still better, the wind 
held so steady, that there was little running aloft, little pull- 
ing ropes, and scarcely any thing disagreeable of that kind. 

The chief mate kept walking up and down the quarter- 
deck, with a lighted long-nine cigar in his mouth by way of 
a torch ; and spoke but few words to us the whole watch. 
He must have had a good deal of thinking to attend to, 
which in truth is the case with most seamen the first night 
out of port, especially when they have thrown away their 
money in foolish dissipation, and got very sick into the bar- 
gain. For when ashore, many of these sea-officers are as 
wild and reckless in their way, as the sailors they command. 

While I stood watching the red cigar-end promenading 
up and down, the mate suddenly stopped and gave an order, 
and the men sprang to obey it. It was not much, only 
something about hoisting one of the sails a little higher up 
on the mast. The men took hold of the rope, and began 
pulling upon it ; the foremost man of all setting up a song 
with no words to it, only a strange musical rise and fall of 
notes. In the dark night, and far out upon the lonely sea, 
it sounded wild enough, and made me feel as I had some- 


64 


RED BURN: 


times felt, when in a twilight room a cousin of mine, with 
black eyes, used to play some old German airs on the piano. 
I almost looked round for goblins, and felt just a little bit 
afraid. But I soon got used to this singing ; for the sailors 
never touched a rope without it. Sometimes, when no one 
happened to strike up, and the pulling, whatever it might 
be, did not seem to be getting forward very well, the mate 
would always say, “ Come, men, ca^iH any of you sing ? 
Sing now, and raise the dead’' And then some one of 
them would begin, and if every man’s arms were as much 
relieved as mine by the song, and he could pull as much 
better as I did, with such a cheering accompaniment, I am 
sure the song was well worth the breath expended on it. It 
is a great thing in a sailor to know how to sing well, for he 
gets a great name by it from the officers, and a good deal of 
popularity among his shipmates. Some sea-captains, before 
shipping a man, always ask him whether he can sing out at 
a rope. 

During the greater part of the watch, the sailors sat on 
the windlass and told long stories of their adventures by sea 
and land, and talked about Gibralter, and Canton, and 
Valparaiso, and Bombay, just^as you and I would about 
Peck Slip and the Bowery. Every man of them almost 
was a volume of Voyages and Travels round the World. 
And what most struck me was that like books of voyages 
they often contradicted each other, and would fall into long 
and violent disputes about who was keeping the Foul Anchor 
tavern in Portsmouth at such a time ; or whether the King 
of Canton lived or did not live in Persia ; or whether the 
bar-maid of a particular house in Hamburg had black eyes 
or blue eyes ; with many other mooted points of that sort. 

At last one of them went below and brought up a box of 
cigars from his chest, for some sailors always provide little 
delicacies of that kind, to break off the first shock of the salt 
water after laying idle ashore ; and also by way of tapering 
off, as I mentioned a little while ago. But I wondered that 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


()5 


they never carried any pies and tarts to sea with them, 
instead of spirits and cigars. 

Ned, for that was the man’s name, split open the box 
with a blow of his fist, and then handed it round along the 
windlass, just like a waiter at a party, every one helping 
himself. But I was a member of an Anti-Srnoking Society 
that had been organized in our village by the Principal of 
the Sunday School there, in conjunction with the Temper- 
ance Association. So I did not smoke any then, though I 
did afterward upon the voyage, I am sorry to say. Not- 
withstanding I declined ; with a good deal of unnecessary 
swearing, Ned assured me that the cigars were real genuine 
Havannas ; for he had been in Havanna, he said, and had 
them made there under his own eye. According to his 
account, he was very particular about his cigars and other 
things, and never made any importations, for they were 
unsafe ; but always made a voyage himself direct to the 
place where any foreign thing was to be had that he wanted. 
He went to Havre for his woolen shirts, to Panama for his 
hats, to China for his silk handkerchiefs, and direct to Cal- 
cutta for his cheroots ; and as a great joker in the watch 
used to say, no doubt he would at last have occasion to go 
to Russia for his halter ; the wit of which saying was pre- 
sumed to be in the fact, that the Russian hemp is the best ; 
though that is not wit which needs explaining. 

By dint of the spirits which, besides stimulating my faint- 
ing strength, united with the cool air of the sea to give me 
an appetite for our hard biscuit ; and also by dint of walking 
briskly up and down the deck before the windlass, I had 
now recovered in good part from my sickness, and finding 
the sailors all very pleasant and sociable, at least among 
themselves, and seated smoking together like old cronies, and 
nothing on earth to do but sit the watch out, I began to 
think that they were a pretty good set of fellows after all, 
barring their swearing and another ugly way of talking they 
had ; and I thought I had misconceived their true characters ; 



66 


REDBURN: 


for at the outset I had deemed them such a parcel of 
wicked hard-hearted rascals that it would be a severe afflic- 
tion to associate with them. 

Yes, I now began to look on them with a sort of incipient 
love ; but more with an eye of pity and compassion, as men 
of naturally gentle and kind dispositions, whom only hard- 
ships, and neglect, and ill-usage had made outcasts from 
good society ; and not as villains who loved wickedness for 
the sake of it, and would persist in wickedness, even in 
Paradise, if they ever got there. And I called to mind a 
sermon I had once heard in a church in behalf of sailors, 
when the preacher called them strayed lambs from the fold, 
and compared them to poor lost children, babes in the wood, 
orphans without fathers or mothers. 

And I remembered reading in a magazine, called the 
Sailors’ Magazine, with a sea-blue cover, and a ship painted 
on the back, about pious seamen who never swore, and paid 
over all their wages to the poor heathen in India ; ai^ how 
that when they were too old to go to sea, these pious old 
sailors found a delightful home for life in the Hospital, where 
they had nothing to do, but prepare themselves for their 
latter end. And I wondered whether there were any such 
good sailors among my ship-mates ; and observing that one 
of them laid on deck apart from the rest, I thought to be 
sure he must be one of them : so I did not disturb his devo- 
tions : but I was afterward shocked at discovering that he 
was only fast asleep, with one of the brown jugs by his 
side. 

I forgot to mention by the way, that every once in a 
while, the men went into one corner, where the chief mate 
could not see them, to take a “swig at the halyards,” as 
they called it ; and this swigging at the halyards it was, that 
enabled them “to taper off” handsomely, and no doubt it 
was this, too, that had something to do with making them 
so pleasant and sociable that night, for they were seldom so 
pleas.Tut and sociable afterward, and never treated me so 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE, 


67 


kindly as they did then. Yet this might have been owing 
to my being something of a stranger to them, then ; and our 
being just out of port. But that very night they turned 
about, and taught me a bitter lesson ; but all in good time. 

I have said, that seeing how agreeable they were getting, 
and how friendly their manner was, I began to feel a sort 
of compassion for them, grounded on their sad conditions as 
amiable outcasts ; and feeling so warm an interest in them, 
and being full of pity, and being truly desirous of benefiting 
them to the best of my poor powers, for I knew they were 
but poor indeed, I made bold to ask one of them, whether 
he was ever in the habit of going to church, when he was 
ashore, or dropping in at the Floating Chapel I had seen 
lying off the dock in the East River at New York ; and 
whether he would think it too much of a liberty, if I asked 
him, if he had any good books in his chest. He stared a 
little at first, but marking what good language I used, see- 
ing my civil bearing toward him, he seemed for a moment 
to be filled with a certain involuntary respect for me, and 
answered, that he had been to church once, some ten or 
twelve years before, in London, and on a week-day had 
helped to move the Floating Chapel round the Battery, 
from the North River ; and that was the only time he had 
seen it. For his books, he said he did not know what I 
meant by good books ; but if I wanted the Newgate Calen- 
dar, and Pirate’s Own, he could lend them to me. 

When I heard this poor sailor talk in this manner, show- 
ing so plainly his ignorance and absence of proper views of 
religion, I pitied him more and more, and contrasting my 
own situation with his, I was grateful that I was different 
from him ; and I thought hov/ pleasant it was, to feel wiser 
and better than he could feel ; though I was willing to con- 
fess to myself, that it was not altogether my own good en- 
deavors, so much as my education, which I had received 
from others, that had made me the upright and sensible boy 
T at that time thought myself to be. And it was now, 


68 


R E D B U R N : 


that I began to feel a good degree of complacency and satis- 
faction in surveying my own character ; for, before this, I 
had previously associated with persons of a very discreet 
life, so that there was little opportunity to magnify myself, 
by comparing myself with my neighbors. 

Thinking that my superiority to him in a moral way 
might sit uneasily upon this sailor, I thought it would soften 
the matter down by giving him a chance to show his own 
superiority to me, in a minor thing ; for I was far from 
being vain and conceited. 

Having observed that at certain intervals a little hell was 
rung on the quarter-deck by the man at the wheel ; and 
that as soon as it was heard, some one of the sailors forward 
struck a large hell which hung on the forecastle ; and hav- 
ing observed that how many times soever the man astern 
rang his bell, the man forward struck his — tit for tat, — I 
inquired of this Floating Chapel sailor, what all this ring- 
ing meant ; and whether, as the big bell hung right over 
the scuttle that went down to the place where the watch 
below were sleeping, such a ringing every little while would 
not tend to disturb them and beget unpleasant dreams ; and 
in asking these questions I was particular to address him in 
a civil and condescending way, so as to show him very 
plainly that I did not deem myself one whit better than he 
was, that is, taking all things together, and not going into 
particulars. But to my great surprise and mortification, he 
in the rudest kind of manner laughed aloud in my face, and 
called me a “ Jimmy Dux,” though that was not my real 
name, and he must have known it ; and also the “ son of a 
farmer,” though as I have previously related, my father was a 
great merchant and French importer in Broad-street in New 
York. And then he began to laugh and joke about me, with 
the other sailors, till they all got round me, and if I had not 
felt so terribly angry, I should certainly have felt very much 
like a fool. But ray being so angry prevented me from 
feeling foolish, which is very lucky for people in a passion. 


CHAPTER X. 


HE IS VERY MUCH FRIGHTENED ; THE SAILORS ABUSE HIM ; AND 
HE BECOMES MISERABLE AND FORLORN. 

While the scene last described was going on, we were 
all startle by a horrid groaning noise down in the forecastle ; 
and all at once some one came rushing up the scuttle in his 
shirt, clutching something in his hand, and trembling and 
shrieking in the most frightful manner, so that I thought 
one of the sailors must be murdered below. 

But it all passed in a moment ; 'and while we stood 
aghast at the sight, and almost before we knew what it was, 
the shrieking man jumped over the bows into the sea, and 
we saw him no more. Then there was a great uproar ; the 
sailors came running up on deck ; and the chief mate ran 
forward, and learning what had happened, began to yell 
out his orders about the sails and yards ; and we all went to 
pulling and hauling the ropes, till at last the ship lay almost 
still on the water. Then tliey loosed a boat, which kept 
pulling round the ship for more than an hour, but they never 
caught sight of the man. It seemed that he was one of the 
sailors who had been brought aboard 'dead drunk, and tum- 
bled into his bunk by his landlord ; and there he had lain 
till now. He mu.st have suddenly waked up, I suppose, 
raging mad with the delirium tremens, as the chief mate 
called it, and finding himself in a strange silent place, and 
knowing not how he had got there, he had rushed on deck, 
and so, in a fit of frenzy, put an end to himself 

This event, happening at the dead of night, had a won- 
derfully solemn and almost awful efiect upon me. I would 
have given the whole world, and the sun and moon, and all 


70 


REDBURN: 


the stars in heaven, if they had been mine, had I been safe 
back at Mr. Jones’, or 'still better, in my home on the 
Hudson River. I thought it an ill-omened voyage, and 
railed at the folly which had sent me to sea, sore against 
the advice of my best friends, that is to say, my mother and 
sisters. 

Alas ! poor Wellingborough, thought I, you will never 
see your home any more. And in this melancholy mood I 
went below, when the watch had expired, which happened 
soon after. But to my terror, I found that the suicide had 
been occupying the very bunk which I had approj)riated to 
myself, and there was no other place for me to sleep in. 
The thought of lying down there now, seemed too horrible 
to me, and what made it worse, was the way in which the 
sailors spoke of my being frightened. And they took this 
opportunity to tell me what a hard and wicked life I had 
entered upon, and how that such things happened frequently 
at sea, and they were used to it. But I did not belieVe this , 
for when the suicide came rushing and shrieking up the scut- 
tle, they looked as frightened as I did ; and besides that, 
and what makes their being frightened still plainer, is the 
fact, that if they had had any presence of mind, they could 
have prevented his plunging overboard, since he brushed 
right by them. However, they lay in their bunks smoking, 
and kept talking on some time in this strain, and advising 
me as soon as ever I got home to pin my ears back, so as 
not to hold the wind, and sail straight away into the inte- 
rior of the country, and never stop until deep in the bush, 
far off from the least running brook, never mind how shal- 
low, and out of sight of even the smallest puddle of rain- 
water. 

This kind of talking brought the tears into my eyes, for it 
was so true and real, and the sailors who spoke it seemed so 
false-hearted and insincere ; but for all that, in spite of the 
sickness at my heart, it made me mad, and stung me to the 
quick, that they should speak of me as a poor trembling 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


71 


coward, who could never be brought to endure the hardships 
of a sailor’s life ; for I felt myself trembling, and knew that 
I was but a coward then, well enough, without their tellino- 
me of it. And they did not say I was cowardly, because 
they perceived it in me, but because they merely supposed I 
must be, judging, no doubt, from their own secret thoughts 
about themselves ; for I felt sure that the suicide frightened 
tliem very badly. And at last, being provoked to despera- 
tion by their taunts, I told them so to their faces ; but I 
might better have kept silent ; for they now all united to 
abuse me. They asked me what business I, a boy like me, 
had to go to sea, and take the bread out of the mouth of 
honest sailors, and fill a good seaman’s place ; and asked 
me whether I ever dreamed of becoming a captain, since I 
was a gentleman with white hands ; and if I ever should 
be, they would like nothing better than to ship aboard my 
vessel and stir up a mutiny. And one of them, whose 
name was Jackson, of whom I shall have a good deal more 
to say by-and-by, said, I had better steer clear of him ever 
after, for if ever I crossed his path, or got into his way, he 
would be the death of me, and if ever I stumbled about in 
the rigging near him, he would make nothing of pitching 
me overboard ; and that he swore too, with an oath. At 
first, all this nearly stunned me, it was so unforeseen ; and 
then I could not believe that they meant what they said, or 
that they could be so cruel and black-hearted. But how 
could I help seeing, that the men who could thus talk to a 
poor, friendless boy, on the very first night of his voyage to 
sea, must be capable of almost any enormity. I loathed, 
detested, and hated them with all that was left of my burst- 
ing heart and soul, and I thought myself the most forlorn 
and miserable wretch that ever breathed. May I never be 
a man, thought I, if to be a boy is to be such a wretch. 

' And I wailed, and wept, and my heart cracked within me, 
but all the time I defied them through my teeth, and dared 
them to do their worst, 


72 


RED B URN: 


At last they ceased talking and fell fast asleep, leaving 
me awake, seated on a chest with my face bent over my 
knees between my hands. And there I sat, till at length 
the dull beating against the ship’s bows, and the silence 
around soothed me down, and I fell asleep as I sat. 


CHAPTER XI. 

HE HELPS WASH THE DECKS, AND TPIEN GOES TO BREAKFAST. 

The next thing I knew, was the loud thumping of a 
handspike on deck as the watch was called again. It was 
now four o’clock in the morning, and when we got on deck 
the first signs of day were shining in the east. The men 
were very sleepy, and sat down on the windlass without 
speaking, and some of them nodded and nodded, till at last 
they fell off like little boys in church during a drowsy sermon. 
At last it was broad day, and an order was given to wash 
down the decks. A great tub was dragged into the waist, 
and then one of the men went over into the chains, and 
slipped in behind a band fastened to the shrouds, and leaning 
over, began to swing a bucket into the sea by a long rope ; 
and in that way with much expertness and sleight of hand, 
he managed to fill the tub in a very short time. Then the 
water began to splash about all over the decks, and I began 
to think I should surely get my feet w^et, and catch my death 
of cold. So I went to the chief mate, and told him I thought 
I would just step below, till this miserable wetting was over ; 
for I did not have any water-proof boots, and an aunt of 
mine had died of consumption. But he only roared out for 
me to get a broom and go to scrubbing, or he would prove a 
worse consumption to me than ever got hold of my poor 
aunt. So I scrubbed away fore and aft, till my back was 
almost broke, for the brooms had uncommon short handles, 
and we were told to scrub hard. 

At length the scrubbing being over, the mate began heav- 
ing buckets of water about, to wash every thing clean, by 
way of finishing off. He must have thought this fine sport, 

D 


74 


R E D B U R N : 


just as captains of fire engines love to point the tube of their 
hose ; for he kept me running after him ’whth full buckets of 
■water, and sometimes chased a little chip all over the deck, 
■with a continued flood, till at last he sent it flying out of a 
scupper-hole into the sea ; when if he had only given me 
permission, I could have picked it up in a trice, and dropped 
it overboard without saying one word, and without wasting 
so much water. But he said there was plenty of water in 
the ocean, and to spare ; which was true enough, but then 
I who had to trot after him ■v\dth the buckets, had no more 
legs and arms than I wanted for my o\\ti use. 

I thought this washing do^vn the decks was the most 
foolish thing in the w’orld, and besides that it was the most 
uncomfortable. It was worse than my mother’s house-clean- 
ings at home, which I used to abominate so. 

At eight o’clock the bell was struck, and we 'vj’^ent to break- 
fast. And now some of the worst of my troubles began. 
For not ha'vdng had any friend to tell me what I would want 
at sea, I had not provided myself, as I should have done, 
with a good many things thai a sailor needs ; and for my o^vn 
part, it had never entered my mind, that sailors had no table 
to sit do-wn to, no cloth, or napkins, or tumblers, and had to 
provide every thing themselves. But so it w'as. 

The first thing they did w^as this. Every sailor went to 
the cook-house with his tin pot, and got it filled with coffee ; 
but of course, having no pot, there was no coffee for me. 
And after that, a sort of little tub called a “kid,” was 
passed down into the forecastle, filled vnth something they 
called “ burgoo.” This was like mush, made of Indian corn, 
meal, and water. With the “kid,” a little tin cannikin 
was passed down with molasses. Then the Jackson that I 
spoke of before, put the kid between his knees, and began to 
pour in the molasses, just like an old landlord mixing punch 
for a party. He scooped out a little hole in the middle of 
the mush, to hold the molasses ; so it looked for all the world 
like a little black pool in the Dismal Swamp of Virginia. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


75 


Then they all formed a circle round the kid ; and one 
after the other, with great regularity, dipped their spoons 
into the mush, and after stirring them round a little in the 
molasses-pool, they swallowed down their mouthfuls, and 
smacked their lips over it, as if it tasted very good ; which 
I have no doubt it did ; but not having any spoon, I wasn’t 
sure. 

I sat some time watching these proceedings, and wonder- 
ing how polite they were to each other ; for, though there 
were a great many spoons to only one dish, they never got 
entangled. At last, seeing that the mush was getting thin- 
ner and thinner, and that it was getting low water, or rather 
low molasses in the little pool, I ran on deck, and after 
' searching about, returned with a bit of stick ; and thi nkin g 
I had as good a right as any one else to the mush and mo- 
lasses, I worked my way into the circle, intending to make 
one of the party. So I shoved in my stick, and after twirl- 
ing it about, was just managing to carry a little burgoo 
toward my mouth, which had been for some time standing 
ready open to receive it, when one of the sailors perceiving 
what I was about, knocked the stick out of my hands, and 
asked me where I learned my manners ; Was that the way 
gentlemen eat in my country ? Did they eat their victuals 
with splinters of wood, and couldn’t that wealthy gentleman 
my father afford to buy his gentlemanly son a spoon ? 

All the rest joined in, and pronounced me an ill-bred, 
coarse, and unmannerly youngster, who, if permitted to go 
on with such behavior as that, would corrupt the whole 
crew, and make them no better than swine. . 

As I felt conscious that a stick was indeed a thing very 
unsuitable to eat with, I did not say much to this, though it 
-vexed me enough ; but remembering that I had seen one of 
the steerage passengers with a pan and spoon in his hand 
eating his breakfast on the fore hatch, I now ran on deck 
again, and to my great joy succeeded in borrowing his spoon, 
for he had got through his meal, and down I came again^ 


76 


RE DBURN: 


though at the eleventh hour, and offered myself once more 
as a candidate. 

But alas ! there was little more of the Dismal Swamp 
left, and when I reached over to the opposite end of the kid, 
I received a rap on the knuckles from a spoon, and was told 
that I must help myself from my own side, for that was the 
rule. But my side was scraped clean, so I got no burgoo 
that morning. 

But I made it up by eating some salt beef and biscuit, 
which I found to be the invariable accompaniment of every 
meal ; the sailors sitting cross-legged on their chests in a 
circle, and breaking the hard biscuit, very sociably, over each 
other’s heads, which was very convenient indeed, but gave 
me the headache, at least for the first four or five days till 
T got used to it ; and then I did not care much about it, 
only it kept my hair full of crumbs ; and I had forgot to 
bring a fine comb and brush, so I used to shake my hair out 
to windward over the bulwarks every evening. 


CHAPTER XIL 

HE GIVES SOME ACCOUNT OF ONE OF HIS SHIPMATES CALLED 
JACKSON. 

While we sat eating our beef and biscuit, two of the 
men got into a dispute, about who had been sea-faring the 
longest ; when Jackson, who had mixed the burgoo, called 
upon them in a loud voice to cease their clamor, for he would 
decide the matter for them. Of this sailor, I shall have 
something more to say, as I get on with my narrative ; so, 
I will here try to describe him a little. 

Did you ever see a man, with his hair shaved off, and 
just recovered from the yellow fever ? Well, just such a 
looking man was this sailor. He was as yellow as gamboge, 
had no more whisker on his cheek, than I have on my elbows. 
His hair had fallen out, and left him very bald, except in 
the nape of his neck, and just behind the ears, where it was 
stuck over with short little tufts, and looked like a worn-out 
shoe-brush. His nose had broken down in the middle, and 
he squinted with one eye, and did not look very straight out 
of the other. He dressed a good deal like a Bowery boy ; 
for he despised the ordinary sailor-rig ; wearing a pair of 
great over-all blue trowsers, fastened with suspenders, and 
three red woolen shirts, one over the other ; for he was sub- 
ject to the rheumatism, and was not in good health, he said ; 
and he had a large white wool hat, with a broad rolling 
brim. He was a native of New York city, and had a good 
deal to say about highbinders, and rowdies, whom he de- 
nounced as only good for the gallows ; but I thought he 
looked a good deal like a highbinder himself. 

His name, as I have said, was Jackson ; and he told us, 


78 


REDBURN: 


he was a near relation of General Jackson of New Orleans, 
and swore terribly, if any one ventured to question what he 
asserted on that head. In fact he was a great bully, and 
being the best seaman on board, and very overbearing every 
way, all the men were afraid of him, and durst not contra- 
dict him, or cross his path in any thing. And what made 
this more wonderful was, that he was the weakest man, 
bodily, of the whole crew ; and I have no doubt that young 
and small as I was then, compared to what I am now, I 
could have thrown him down. But he had such an over- 
awing way with him ; such a deal of brass and impudence, 
such an unflinching face, and withal was such a hideous 
looking mortal, that Satan himself would have run from 
him. And besides all this, it was quite plain, that he was 
by nature a marvelously clever, cunning man, though with- 
out education ; and understood human nature to a kink, and 
well knew whom he had to deal with ; and then, one glance 
of his squinting eye, was as good as a knock-down, for it was 
the most deep, subtle, infernal looking eye, that I ever saw 
lodged in a human head. I believe, that by good rights it 
must have belonged to a wolf, or starved tiger ; at any rate, 
I would defy any oculist, to turn out a glass eye, half so cold, 
and snaky, and deadly. It was a horrible thing ; and I 
would give much to forget that I have ever seen it ; for it 
haunts me to this day. 

It was impossible to tell how old this Jackson was ; for 
he had no beard, and no wrinkles, except small crows-feet 
about the eyes. He might have seen thirty, or perhaps 
fifty years. But according to his own account, he had been 
to sea ever since he was eight years old, when he first went 
as a cabin-boy in an Indiaman, and ran away at Calcutta. 
And according to his own account, too, he had passed 
through every kind of dissipation and abandonment in the 
worst parts of the world. He had served in Portuguese 
slavers on the coast of Africa ; and with a diabolical relish 
used to tell of the middle-passage , where the slaves were 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


79 


stowed, heel and point, like logs, and the suffocated and 
dead were unmanacled, and weeded out from the living every 
morning, before washing down the decks ; how he had been 
in a slaving schooner, which being chased by an English 
cruiser off Cape Verde, received three shots in her hull, 
which raked through and through a whole file of slaves, that 
were chained. 

He would tell of lying in Batavia during a fever, w'hen 
his ship lost a man every few days, and how they went 
reeling ashore with the body, and got still more intoxicated 
by way of precaution against the plague. He would talk 
of finding a cobra-di-capello, or hooded snake, under his 
pillow in India, when he slept ashore there. He w'ould talk 
of sailors being poisoned at Canton with drugged “ shampoo,'' 
for the sake of their money ; and of the Malay ruffians, who 
stopped ships in the straits of Caspar, and always saved the 
captain for the last, so as to make him point out where the 
most valuable goods were stored. 

His whole talk was of this kind ; full of piracies, plagues 
and poisonings. And often he narrated many passages in 
his own individual career, which were almost incredible, 
from the consideration that few men could have plunged into 
such infamous vices, and clung to them so long, without 
paying the death-penalty. 

But in truth, he carried about with him the traces of 
these things, and the mark of a fearful end nigh at hand ; 
like that of King Antiochus of Syria, who died a worse death, 
history says, than if he had been stung out of the world by 
wasps and hornets. 

Nothing was left of this Jackson but the foul lees and 
dregs of a man ; he was thin as a shadow ; nothing but 
skin and bones ; and sometimes used to complain, that it 
hurt him to sit on the hard chests. And I sometimes fan- 
cied, it was the consciousness of his miserable, broken-down 
condition, and the prospect of soon dying like a dog, in con- 
sequence of his sins, that made this poor wretch always eye 


80 


REDBURN: 


me with such malevolence as he did. For I was young 
and handsome, at least my mother so thought me, and as. 
soon as I became a little used to the sea, and shook off my 
low spirits somewhat, I began to have my old color in my 
cheeks, and, spite of misfortune, to appear well and hearty ; 
whereas he was being consumed by an incurable malady, 
that was eating up his vitals, and was more fit for a hospital 
than a ship. 

As I am sometimes by nature inclined to indulge in un- 
authorized surmisings about the thoughts going on with re- 
gard to me, in the people I meet ; especially if I have reason 
to think they dislike me ; I will not put it down for a cer- 
tainty that what I suspected concerning this Jackson relative 
to his thoughts of me, was really the truth. But only state 
my honest opinion, and how it struck me at the time ; and 
even now, I think I was not wrong. And indeed, unless it 
was so, how could I account to myself, for the shudder that 
would run through me, when I caught this man'gazing at 
me, as I often did ; for he was apt to be dumb at times, 
and would sit with his eyes fixed, and his teeth set, like a 
man in the moody madness. 

I well remember the first time I saw him, and how I 
was startled at his eye, which was even then fixed upon me 
He was standing at the ship’s helm, being the first man that 
got there, when a steersman was called for by the pilot ; for 
this Jackson was always on the alert for easy duties, and 
used to plead his delicate health as the reason for assuming 
them, as he did ; though I used to think, that for a man in 
poor health, he was very swift on the legs ; at least when 
a good place was to be jumped to ; though that might only 
have been a sort of spasmodic exertion under strong induce- 
ments, which every one knows the greatest invalids will 
sometimes show. 

And though the sailors were always very bitter against 
any thing like sogering, as they called it ; that is, any thing 
that savored of a desire to get rid of downright hard work ; 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


81 


yet, I observed that, though this Jackson was a notorious 
old soger the whole voyage (I mean, in all things not peril- 
ous to do, from which he was far from hanging back), and in 
truth was a great veteran that way, and one who must have 
passed unhurt through many campaigns ; yet, they never 
presumed to call him to account in any way ; or to let him 
so much as think, what they thought of his conduct. But I 
often heard them call him many hard names behind his back ; 
and sometimes, too, when, perhaps, they had just been tender- 
ly inquiring after his health before his face. They all stood 
in mortal fear of him ; and cringed and fawned about him 
like so many spaniels ; and used to rub his back, after he 
was undressed and lying in his bunk ; and used to run up 
on deck to the cook-house, to warm some cold coffee for 
him ; and used to fill his pipe, and give him chews of to- 
bacco, and mend his jackets and trowsers ; and used to 
watch, and tend, and nurse him every way. And all the 
time, he would sit scowling on them, and found fault with 
what they did ; and I noticed, .that those who did the most 
for him, and cringed the most before him, were the very 
ones he most abused ; while two or three who held more 
aloof, he treated with a little consideration. 

It is not for me to say, what it was that made a whole 
ship’s company submit so to the whims of one poor miser- 
^ able man like Jackson. I only know that so it was ; but 
I have no doubt, that if he had had a blue eye in his head, 
or had had a different face from what he did have, they 
would not have stood in such awe of him. And it aston- 
ished me, to see that one of the seamen, a remarkably robust 
and good-humored young man from Belfast in Ireland, was 
a person of no mark or influence among the crew ; but on 
the contrary was hooted at, and trampled upon, and made 
a butt and laughing-stock ; and more than all, was continu- 
ally being abused and snubbed by Jackson, who seemed to 
hate him cordially, because of his great strength and fine 
person, and particularly because of his red cheeks. 

D* 


82 


REDBURN: 


But then, this Belfast man, although he had shipped for 
an able-seaman, was not much of a sailor ; and that always 
lowers a man in the eyes of a ship’s company ; I mean, 
when he ships for an able-seaman, but is not able to do the 
duty of one. For sailors are of three classes — able-seamen, 
ordiTiary-seamen, and boys ; and they receive different wages 
according to their rank. Generally, a ship’s company of 
twelve men will only have five or six able seamen, .who if 
they prove to understand their duty every way (and that is 
no small matter either, as I shall hereafter show, perhaps), 
are looked up to, and thought much of by the ordinary-sea- 
men and boys, who reverence their very pea-jackets, and lay 
up their sayings in their hearts. 

But you must not think from this, that persons called boys 
aboard merchant-ships are all youngsters, though to be sure, 

I myself was called a boy, and a boy I was. No. In 
merchant-ships, a boy means a green-hand, a laiidsman on 
his first voyage. And never mind if he is old enough to be 
a grandfather, he is still called a boy ; and boys’ work is put 
upon him. 

But I am straying off from what I was going to say about 
Jackson’s putting an end to the dispute between the two 
sailors in the forecastle after breakfast. After they had been 
disputing some time about who had been to sea the longest, 
Jackson told them to stop talking; and then bade one of • 
them open his mouth ; for, said he, I can tell a sailor’s age 
just like a horse’s — by his teeth. So the man laughed, and 
opened his mouth ; and Jackson made him step out under 
the scuttle, where the light came down from deck ; and 
then made him throw his head back, while he looked into 
it, and probed a little with his jack-knife, like a baboon peering 
into a junk-bottle. I trembled for the poor fellow, just as 
if I had seen him under the hands of a crazy barber, making 
signs to cut his throat, and he all the while sitting stock 
still, with the lather on, to be shaved. For I watched Jack- 
son’s eye and saw it snapping, and a sort of going in and out, 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


83 


/ery quick, as if it were something like a forked tongue ; and 
somehow, I felt as if he were longing to kill the man ; but 
at last he grew more composed, and after concluding his ex- 
amination, said, that the first man was the oldest sailor, for 
the ends of his teeth were the evenest and most worn down ; 
which, he said, arose from eating so much hard sea-biscuit ; 
and this was the reason he could tell a sailor’s age like a 
horse’s. 

At this, every body made merry, and looked at each other, 
IS much as to say — come, boys, let's laugh ; and they did 
laugh ; and declared it was a rare joke. 

This was always the way with them. They made a 
point of shouting out, whenever Jackson said any thing with 
a grin ; that being the sign to them that he himself thought 
it funny ; though I heard many good jokes from others pass 
off without a smile ; and once Jackson himself (for, to tell 
the truth, he sometimes had a comical way with him, that 
is, when his back did not ache) told a truly funny story, but 
with a grave face ; when, not knowing how he meant it, 
whether for a laugh or otherwise, they all sat still, waiting 
what to do, and looking perplexed enough ; till at last Jack- 
son roared out upon them for a parcel of fools and idiots ; 
and told them to their beards, how it was ; that he had pur- 
posely put on his grave face, to see whether they would not 
look grave, too ; even when he was telling something that 
ought to split their sides. And with that, he flouted, and 
jeered at them, and laughed them all to scorn ; and broke 
out in such a rage, that his lips began to glue together at 
the corners with a fine white foam. 

He seemed to be full of hatred and gall against every 
thing and every body in the world ; as if all the world was 
one person, and had done him some dreadful harm, that was 
rankling and festering in his heart. Sometimes I thought 
he was really crazy ; and often felt so frightened at him, 
that I thought of going to the captain about it, and telling 
him Jackson ought to be confined, lest he should do some 


84 


R E D B U R N ; 


terrible thing at last. But upon second thoughts, I always 
■gave it up ; for the captain would only have called me a 
fool, and sent me forward again. 

But you must not think that all the sailors were alike in 
abasing themselves before this man. No : there were three 
or four who used to stand up sometimes against him ; and 
when he was absent at the wheel, would plot against him 
among the other sailors, and tell them what a shame and 
ignominy it was, that such a poor miserable wretch should 
be such a tyrant over much better men .than himself. And 
they begged and conjured them as men, to put up with it no 
longer, but the very next time, that Jackson presumed to 
play the dictator, that they should all withstand him, and 
let him know his place. Two or three times nearly all 
hands agreed to it, with the exception of those who used to 
slink off during such discussions ; and swore that they would 
not any more submit to be ruled by Jackson. But when 
the time came to make good their oaths, they were mum 
again, and let every thing go on the old way ; so that those 
who had put them up to it, had to bear all the brunt of 
Jackson’s wrath by themselves. And though these last 
would stick up a little at first, and even mutter something 
about a fight to Jackson ; yet in the end, finding themselvea 
unbefriended by the rest, they would gradually become silent, 
and leave the field to the tyrant, who would then fly out 
worse than ever,' and dare them to do their worst, and jeei 
at them for white-livered poltroons, who did not have a 
mouthful of heart in them. At such times, there were no 
bounds to his contempt ; and indeed, all the time he seerned 
to have even more contempt than hatred, for every body and 
every thing. 

As for me, I was but a boy ; and at any time aboard ship, 
a boy is expected to keep quiet, do what he is bid, never pre- 
sume to interfere, and seldom to talk, unless spoken to. Foi 
merchant sailors have a great idea of their dignity, and supe- 
riority to greenhorns and landsmen, who know nothing 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


85 


about a ship ; and they seem to think, that an able secmnan 
is a great man ; at least a much greater man than a little 
boy. And the able seamen in the Highlander had such 
grand notions about their seamanship, that I almost thought 
that able seamen received diplomas, like those given at col- 
leges ; and were made a sort A. M's, or Masters of Arts. 

But though I kept thus quiet, and had very little to say, 
and well knew that my best plan was to get along peaceably 
with every body, and indeed endure a good deal before show- 
ing fight, yet I could not avoid Jackson’s evil eye,, nor escape 
his bitter enmity. And his being my foe, set many of the 
rest against me ; or at least they were afraid to speak out for 
me before Jackson ; so that at last I found myself a sort of 
Ishmael in the ship, without a single friend or companion ; 
and I began to feel a hatred growing up in me against the 
whole crew — so much so, that I prayed against it, that it 
might not master my heart completely, and so make a fiend 
of me, something like Jackson. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

HE HAS A FINE DAY AT SEA, BEGINS TO LIKE IT ; BUT 
CHANGES HIS MIND. 

The second day out of port, the decks being washed down 
and breakfast over, the watch was called, and the mate set 
us to work. 

It was a very bright day. The sky and water were both 
of the same deep hue ; and the air felt warm and sunny ; so 
that we threw off our jackets. I could hardly believe that 
I was sailing in the same ship I had been in during the night, 
when every thing had been so lonely and dim ; and I could 
hardly imagine that this was the same ocean, now so beau- 
tiful and blue, that during part of the night-watch had rolled 
along so black and forbidding. 

There were little traces of sunny clouds all over the heav- 
ens ; and little fleeces of foam all over the sea ; and the ship 
made a strange, musical noise under her bows, as she glided 
along, with her sails all still. It seemed a pity to go to 
work at such a time ; and if we could only have sat in the 
windlass again ; or if they would have let 'me go out on the 
bowsprit, and lay down between the ma7i-ropes there, and 
look oyer at the fish in the water, and think of home, I should 
have been almost happy for a time. 

I had now completely got over my sea-sickness, and felt 
very well ; at least in my body, though my heart was far 
from feeling right ; so that I could now look around me, and 
make observations. 

And truly, though we were at sea, there was much to 
behold and wonder at ; to me, who was on my first voyage. 
What most amazed me was the sight of the great ocean 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


87 


itself, for we were out of sight of land. All round us, on both 
sides of the ship, ahead and astern, nothing was to be seen but 
water— water — water ; not a single glimpse of green shore, 
not the smallest island, oj speck of moss any where. Never 
did I realize till now what the ocean was : how grand and 
majestic, how solitary, and boundless, and beautiful and blue ; 
for that day it gave no tokens of squalls or hurricanes, such 
as I had heard my father tell of ; nor could I imagine, how 
any thing that seemed so playful and placid, could be lashed 
into rage, and troubled into rolling avalanches of foam, and 
great cascades of waves, such as I saw in the end. 

As I looked at it so mild and sunny, I could not help 
calling to mind my little brother’s face, when he was sleep- 
ing an infant in the cradle. It had just such a happy, care- 
less, innocent look ; and every happy little wave seemed 
gamboling about like a thoughtless little kid in a pasture ; 
and seemed to look up in your face as it passed, as if it 
wanted to be patted and caressed. They seemed all live 
things with hearts in them, that could feel ; and I almost 
felt grieved, as we sailed in among them, scattering them 
under our broad bows in sun-flakes, and riding over them 
like a great elephant among lambs. 

But what seemed perhaps the most strange to me of all, 
was a certain wonderful rising and falling of the sea ; I do 
not mean the waves themselves, but a sort of wide heaving 
and swelling and sinking all over the ocean. It was some- 
thing I can not very well describe ; but I know very well 
what it was, and how it affected me. It made me almost 
dizzy to look at it ;. and yet I could not keep my eyes off it, 
it seemed so passing strange and wonderful. 

I felt as if in a dream all the time ; and when I could 
shut the ship out, almost thought I was in some new, fairy 
world, and expected to hear myself called to, out of the clear 
blue air, or from the depths of the deep blue sea. But I 
did not have much leisure to indulge in such thoughts ; for 
the men were now getting some stun'-sails ready to hoist 


RE DBURN: 


aloft, as the wind was getting fairer and fairer for us ; and 
these stun’-sails are light canvas which are spread at such 
times, away out beyond the ends of the yards, where they 
overhang the wide water, like the wings of a great bird. 

Fot my own part, I could do but little to help the rest, 
not knowing the name of any thing, or the proper way to 
go about aught. Besides, I felt very dreamy, as I said be- 
fore ; and did not exactly know where, or what I was ; every 
thing was so strange and new. 

While the stun’-sails were lying all tumbled upon the 
deck, and the sailors were fastening them to the booms, get- 
ting them ready to hoist, the mate ordered me to do a great 
many simple things, none of which could I comprehend, 
owing to the queer words he used ; and then, seeing me 
stand quite perplexed and confounded, he would roar out at 
me, and call me all manner of names, and the sailors would 
laugh and wink to each other, but durst not go far^ther than 
that, for fear of the mate, who in his own presence would 
not let any body laugh at me but himself. 

However, I tried to wake up as much as I could, and 
keep from dreaming with my eyes open ; and being, at bot- 
tom, a smart, apt lad, at last I managed to learn a thing 
or two, so that I did not appear so much like a fool as at 
first. 

People who have never gone to sea for the first time as 
sailors, can not imagine how puzzling and confounding it is. 
It must be like going into a barbarous country, where, they 
speak a strange dialect, and dress in strange clothes, and 
live in strange houses. For sailors have their own names, 
even for things that are familiar ashore ; and if you call a 
thing by its shore name, you are laughed at for an ignoramus 
and a land-lubber. This first day I speak of, the mate 
having ordered me to draw some water, I asked him where 
I was to get the pail ; when I thought I had committed 
some dreadful crime ; for he flew into a great passion, and 
said they never had any ^aih at sea, and then I learned that 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


83 


they were always called buckets. And once I was talking 
about sticking a little wooden peg into a bucket to stop a 
leak, when he flew out again, and said there were no pegs 
at sea, only plugs. And just so it was with every thing 
else. 

But besides all this, there is such an influite number of 
totally new names of new things to learn, that at first it 
seemed impossible for me to master them all. If you have 
ever seen a ship, you must have remarked what a thicket 
of ropes there are ; and how they all seemed mixed and 
entangled together like a great skein of yarn. Now the 
very smallest of these ropes has its own proper name, and 
many of them are very lengthy, like the names of young 
royal princes, such as the starboard-main-top-gallant-bow-line, 
or the larboard-fore 'top-sail-due-line. 

I think it would U)t be a bad plan to have a grand new 
naming of a ship’s ropes, as I have read, they once had a 
simplifying of the classes of plants in Botany. It is reaUy 
wonderful how many names there are in the world. There 
is no counting the names, that surgeons and anatomists give 
to the various parts of the human body ; which, indeed, i? 
something like a ship ; its bones being the stiff* standing 
rigging, and the sinews the smq.U running ropes, that man 
age all the motions. 

I wonder whether mankind could not get along without 
all these names, which keep increasing every day, and hour, 
and moment ; till at last the very air will be full of them ; 
and even in a great plain, men will be breathing each other’s 
breath, owing to the vast multitude of words they use, that 
consume all the air, just as lamp-burners do gas. But 
people seem to have a great love for names ; for to know a 
great many names, seems to look like knowing a good many 
things ; though I should not be surprised, if there were a 
great many more names, than things in the world. But I 
must quit this rambling, and return to my story. 

At last we hoisted the stun’-sails up to the top-sail yards , 


90 


REDBURN: 


and as soon as the vessel felt them, she gave a sort of bound 
like a horse, and the breeze blowing more and more, she 
went plunging along, shaking off the foam from her bows, 
' like foam from a bridle-bit. Every mast and timber seemed 
to have a pulse in it that was beating with life and joy ; and 
I felt a wild exulting in my own heart, and felt as if I would 
be glad to bound along so round the world. 

Then was I first conscious of a wonderful thing in me, 
that responded to all the wild commotion of the outer world ; 
and went reeling on and on with the planets in their orbits, 
and was lost in one delirious throb at the center of the All. 
A wild bubbling and bursting was at my heart, as if a hid- 
den spring had just gushed out there ; and my blood ran 
tingling along my frame, like mountain brooks in spring 
freshets. 

Yes ! yes ! give me this glorious ocean life, this salt-sea 
life, this briny, foamy life, when the sea neighs ^and snorts, 
and you breathe the very breath that the great whales re- 
spire ! Let me roll around the globe, let me rock upon the 
sea ; let me race and pant out my life, with an eternal 
breeze astern, and an endless sea before ! 

But how soon these raptures abated, when after a brief 
idle interval, we were again set to work, and I had a vile 
commission to clean out the chicken coops, and make up the 
beds of the pigs in the long-boat. 

Miserable dog’s life is this of the sea ! commanded like a 
slave, and set to work like an ass ! vulgar and brutal men 
lording it over me, as if I were an African in Alabama. 
Yes, yes, blow on, ye breezes, and make a speedy end to this 
abominable voyage ! 


/ 


CHAPTER XIV. 

HE CONTEMPLATES MAKING A SOCIAL CALL ON THE CAPTAIN IN 
HIS CABIN. 

W HAT reminded me most forcibly of my ignominious con- 
dition, was the widely altered manner of the captain toward 
me. I had thought him a fine, funny gentleman, full of 
mirth and good humor, and good will to seamen, and one 
who could not fail to appreciate the difference between me 
and the rude sailors among whom I was thrown. Indeed, 
I had made no doubt that he would in some special manner 
take me under his protection, and prove a kind friend and 
benefactor to me ; as I had heard that some sea-captains are 
fathers to their crew ; and so they are ; but such fathers as 
Solomon’s precepts tend to make — severe and chastising 
fathers, fathers whose sense of duty overcomes the sense of 
love, and who every day, in some sort, play the part of 
Brutus, who ordered his son away to execution, as I have 
read in our old family Plutarch. 

Yes, I thought that Captain Riga, for Riga was his 
name, would be attentive and considerate to me, and strive 
to cheer me up, and comfort me in my lonesomeness. I did 
not even deem it at all impossible that he would invite me 
down into the cabin of a pleasant night, to ask me questions 
concerning my parents, and prospects in life; besides obtain- 
ing from me some anecdotes touching my great-uncle, the il- 
lustrious senator ; or give me a slate and pencil, and teach 
me problems in navigation ; or perhaps engage me at a game 
of chess. I even thought he might invite me to dinner on a 
sunny Sunday, and help me plentifully to the nice cabin 
fare, as knowing how distasteful the salt beef and pork, and 


92 


■ RED BURN: 


hard biscuit of the forecastle must at first be to a boy like 
me, who had always lived ashore, and at home. 

And I could not help regarding him with peculiar emo- 
tions, almost of tenderness and love, as the last visible link 
in the chain of associations which bound me to my home.- 
For, while yet in port, I had seen him and Mr. Jones, my 
brother’s friend, standing together and conversing ; so that 
from the captain to my brother there was but one interme- 
diate step ; and my brother and mother and sisters were one. 

And this reminds me how often I used to pass by the 
places on deck, where I remembered Mr. Jones had stood 
when we first visited the ship lying at the wharf ; and how 
I tried to convince myself that it was indeed true, that he 
had stood there, though now the ship was so far away on 
the wide Atlantic Ocean, and he perhaps was walking down 
Wall-street, or sitting reading the newspaper in his counting 
room, while poor I was so differently employed. ^ 

When two or three days had passed without the captain’s 
speaking to me in any way, or sending word into the fore- 
castle that he wished me to drop into the cabin to pay *my 
respects, I began to think whether I should not make the 
first advances, and whether indeed he did not expect it of 
me, since I was but a boy, and he a man ; and perhaps that 
might have been the reason why he had not spoken to me 
yet, deeming it more proper and respectful for me to address 
him first. I thought he might be offended, too, especially if 
he were a proud man, with tender feelings. So one evening, 
a little before sundown, in the second dog-watch, when there 
was no more work to be done, I concluded to call and see 
him. 

After drawing a bucket of water, and having a good 
washing, to get off some of the chicken-coop stains, I went 
down into the forecastle to dress myself as neatly as I could. 
I put on a white shirt in place of my red one, and got into 
a pair of cloth trowsers instead of my duck ones, and put on 
my new pumps, and then carefully brushing my shooting- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


93 


jacket, I put that on over all, so that upon the whole, I 
made quite a genteel figure, at least for a forecastle, though 
I would not have looked so well in a drawing-room. 

When the sailors saw me thus employed, they did not 
know what to make of it, and wanted to know whether I 
was dressing to go ashore ; I told them no, for we were then 
out of sight of land ; but that I was going to pay my respects 
to the captain. Upon which they all laughed and shouted, 
as if I w'ere a simpleton ; though there seemed nothing so 
very simple in going to make an evening call upon a friend. 
When some of them tried to dissuade me, saying I was green 
and raw ; but Jackson, who sat looking on, cried out, with 
a hideous grin, “ Let him go, let him go, men — he’s a nice 
boy. Let him go ; the captain has some nuts and raiiins 
for him.” And so he Avas going on, when one of his violent 
fits of coughing seized him, and he almost choked. 

As I was about leaving the forecastle, I happened to look 
at my hands, and seeing them stained all over of a deep 
yellow, for that morning the mate had set me to tarring 
some strips of canvas for the rigging, I thought it would 
never do to present myself before a gentleman that way ; so 
for want of kids, I slipped on a pair of woolen mittens, 
which my mother had knit for me to carry to sea. As I 
was putting them on, Jackson asked me whether he shouldn’t 
call a carriage ; and another bade me not forget to present 
his best respects to the skipper. I left them all tittering, 
and coming on deck was passing the cook-house, when the 
old cook called after me, saying I had forgot my cane. 

But I did not heed their impudence, and was walking 
straight toward the cabin-door on the^ quarter-deck, when 
the chief mate met me. I touched my hat, and was passing 
him, when, after staring at me till I thought his eyes would 
burst out, he all at once caught me by the collar, and with 
a voice of thunder, wanted to know what I meant by play- 
ing such tricks aboard a ship that he was mate of ? I told 
him to let go of me, or I would complain to my friend the 


D4 


REDBURN: 


captain, whom I intended to visit that evening. Upon this 
he gave me such a whirl round, that I thought the Gulf 
Stream was in my head ; and then shoved me forward, 
roaring out I know not what. Meanwhile the sailors were 
all standing round the windlass looking aft, mightily tickled. 

Seeing I could not effect my object that night, I thought 
it best to defer it for the present ; and returning among the 
sailors, Jackson asked me how I had found the captain, and 
whether the next time I went, I would not take a friend 
along and introduce him. 

The upshot of this business was, that before I went to 
sleep that night, I felt well satisfied that it was not custom- 
ary for sailors to call on the captain in the cabin ; and I 
began to have an inkling of the fact, that I had acted like a 
fool ; but it all arose from my ignorance of sea usages. 

And here I may as well state, that I never saw the 
inside of the cabin during the whole interval tl^at elapsed 
from our sailing till our return to New York ; though I 
often used to get a peep at it through a little pane of glas§, 
set in the house on deck, just before the helm, where a 
watch was kept hanging for the helmsman to strike the half 
hours by, with his little bell in the binnacle, where the com- 
pass was. And it used to be the great amusement of the 
sailors to look in through the pane of glass, when they stood 
at the wheel, and watch the proceedings in the cabin ; 
especially when the steward was setting the table for din- 
ner, or the captain was lounging over a decanter of wine on 
a little mahogany stand, or playing the game called solitaire, 
at cards, of an evening ; for at times he was all alone with 
his dignity ; though, as will ere long be shown, he general- 
ly had one pleasant companion,^ whose society he did not 
dislike. 

The day following my attempt to drop in at the cabin, I 
happened to be making fast a rope on the quarter-deck, 
when the captain suddenly made his appearance, promenad- 
ing up and down, and smoking a cigar. He looked very 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


95 


good-humored and amiable, and it being just after bis din- 
ner, I thought that this, to be sure, was just the chance I 
wanted. 

I waited a little while, thinking he would speak to me 
himself ; but as he did not, I went up to him, and began bv 
saying it was a very pleasant day, and hoped he was Tery 
weU. I never saw a man fly into such a rage ; I thought 
he was going to knock me do^vn ; but after standing speech- 
less awhile, he all at once plucked his cap from his head 
and threw it at me. I don’t know what impelled me, but 
I ran to the lee-scuppers where it fell, picked it up, and gave 
it to him with a bow ; when the mate came running up, 
and thrust me forward again ; and after he had got me as 
far as the windlass, he wanted to know whether I was crazy 
or not : for if I was, he would put me in irons right off, and 
have done -with it. 

But I assured him I was in my right mind, and knew 
perfectly well that I had been treated in the most rude and 
ungentlemanly manner both by him and Captain E-iga. 
Upon this, he rapped out a great oath, and told me if I ever 
repeated what I had done that evemng, or ever again pre- 
sumed so much as to lift my hat to the captain, he would 
tie me into the rigging, and keep me there until I learned 
better manners. You are very green,” said he, but I'll 
ripen you.” Indeed this chief mate seemed to have the 
keeping of the dignity of the captain ; who, in some sort, 
seemed too digni^d personally to protect his own dignity. 

I thought this strange enough, to be reprimanded, and 
charged with rudeness for an act of common civility. How- 
ever, seeiug how matters stood, I resolved to let the captain 
alone for the future, particularly as he had shown himself so 
deficient in the ordinary breeding of a gentleman. And 1 
could hardly credit it, that this was the same man who had 
been so very civil, and polite, and witty, when ^Ir. Jones 
and I called upon him in port. 

But this astonishment of mine was much increased, when 


96 


R E D B U R N : 


some days after, a storm came upon us, and the captain 
rushed out of the cabin in his nightcap, and nothing else but 
his shirt on ; and leaping up on the poop, began to jump up 
and down, and curse and swear, and call the men aloft all 
manner of hard names, just like a common loafer in the 
street. 

Besides all this, too, I noticed that while we were at sea, 
he wore nothing but old shabby clothes, very different from 
the glossy suit I had seen him in at our first interview, and 
after that on the steps of the City Hotel, where he always 
boarded when in New York. Now, he wore nothing but 
old-fashioned snuff-colored coats, with high collars and short 
waists ; and faded, short-legged pantaloons, very tight about 
the knees ; and vests, that did not conceal his waistbands, 
owing to their being so short, just like a little boy’s. And 
his hats were all caved in, and battered, as if they had been 
knocked about in a cellar ; and his boots were sacHy patched. 
Indeed, I began to think that he was but a shabby fellow 
after all ; particularly as his whiskers lost their gloss, and he 
went days together without shaving ; and his hair, by a sort 
of miracle, began to grow of a pepper and salt color, which 
might have been owing, though, to his discontinuing the use 
of some kind of dye while at sea. I put him down as a 
sort of impostor ; and while ashore, a gentleman on false 
pretenses ; for no gentleman would have treated another 
gentleman as he did me. 

Yes, Captain Riga, thought I, you are gentleman, and 
you know it ! 


CHAPTER XV. 

THE MELANCHOLY STATE OF HIS WARDROBE. 

And now that I have been speaking of the captain’s old 
clothes, I may as well speak of mine. 

*It was very early in the month of June that we sailed ; 
and I had greatly rejoiced that it was that time of the year ; 
for it would be warm and pleasant upon the ocean, I thought ; 
and my voyage would be like a summer excursion to the 
sea shore, for the benefit of the salt water, and a change 
of scene and society. 

So I had not given myself much concern about what I 
should wear ; and deemed it wholly unnecessary to provide 
myself with a great outfit of pilot-cloth jackets, and trows- 
ers, and Guernsey frocks, and oil-skin 'suits, and sea-boots, 
and many other things, which old seamen carry in their 
chests. But one reason was, that I did not have the money 
to buy them with, even if I had wanted to. So in addition 
to the clothes I had brought from home, I had only bought 
a red shirt, a tarpaulin hat, and a belt and knife, as I have 
previously related, which gave me a sea outfit-, sornething 
like the Texian^-aiigers’, whose uniform, they say, consists 
of a shirt collar and a pair of spurs. 

But I was not many days at sea, when I found that my 
shore clothing, or “ long togs,"" as the sailors call them, were 
but ill adapted to the life I now led. When I went aloft, 
at my yard-arm gymnastics, my pantaloons were all the time 
ripping and splitting in every direction, particularly about 
the seat, owing to their not being cut s-ailor-fashion, with low 
waistbands, and to wear without suspenders. So that I was 
often placed in most unpleasant predicaments, straddling the 

*E 


98 


REDBURN: 


rigging, sometimes in plain sight of the cabin, with my table 
linen exposed in the most inelegant and nngentlemanly man- 
ner possible. 

And worse than all, my best pair of pantaloons, and the 
pair I most prided myself upon, was a very conspicuous and 
remarkable looking pair. 

I had had them made to order by our village tailor, a 
little fat man, very thin in the legs, and who used to say he 
imported the latest fashions direct from Paris ; ^though all the 
fashion plates in his shop were very dirty with ‘fly-marks. 

Well, this tailor made the pantaloons I speak of, a*id 
while he had them in hand, I used to call and see him 
two or three times a day to try them on, and hurry him for- 
ward ; for he was an old man with large round spectacles, 
and could not see very well, and had no one to help him but 
a sick wife, with five grandchildren to take care of; and 
besides that, he was such a great snuff-taker, th^t it inter- 
fered with his business ; for he took several pinches for every 
stitch, and would sit snuffling and blowing his nose over my 
pantaloons, till I used to get disgusted with him. Now, 
this old tailor had shown me the pattern, after which he 
intended to make my pantaloons ; but I improved upon it, 
and bade him have a slit on the outside of each leg, at the 
foot, to button up with a row of six brass bell buttons ; for 
a grown-up cousin of mine, who was a great sportsman, used 
to wear a beautiful pair of pantaloons, made precisely in that 
way. I 

And these were the very pair I now had at sea ; the 
sailors made a great deal of fun of them, and were all the 
time calling on each other to “ twig'' them ; and they would 
ask me to lend them a button or two, by way of a joke ; and 
then they would ask me if I was not a soldier. Showing 
very plainly that they had no idea that my pantaloons were 
a very genteel pair, made in the height of the sporting fash- 
ion, and copied from my cousin’s, who was a young man of 
fortune and drove a tilbury. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE 


99 


When my pantaloons ripped and tore, as I have said, I 
did my best to mend and patch them ; but not being much 
of a sempstress, the more I patched the more they parted ; 
because I put my patches on, without heeding the joints of 
the legs, which only irritated my poor pants the more, and 
put them out of temper. 

Nor must I forget my boots, which were almost new 
when I left home. They had been my Sunday boots, and 
fitted me to a charm. I never had had a pair of boots that I 
liked better ; I used to turn my toes out when I walked in 
them, unless it was night time, when no one could see me, 
and I had something else to think of; and I used to keep 
looking at them during church ; so that I lost a good deal 
of the sermon. In a word, they were a beautiful pair of 
boots. But all this only unfitted them the more for sea- 
service ; as I soon discovered. They had very high heels, 
which were all the time tripping me in the rigging, and 
several times came near pitching me overboard ; and the 
salt water made them shrink in such a manner, that they 
pinched me terribly about the instep ; and I was obliged to 
gash them cruelly, which went to my very heart. The legs 
were quite long, coming a good way up toward my knees, 
and the edges were mounted with red morocco. The sailors 
used to call them my gaff -topsail-boots.'" And sometimes 
they used to call me “ Boots,” and sometimes “ Buttons,” 
on account of the ornaments on my pantaloons and shooting- 
jacket. 

At last, I took their advice, and ^'•razeed" them, as they 
phrased it. That is, I amputated the legs, and shaved off 
the heels to the bare soles ; which, however, did not much 
improve them, for it made my feet feel flat as flounders, 
and besides, brought me down in the world, and made me 
slip and slide about the decks, as I used to at home, when I 
wore straps on the ice. 

As for my tarpaulin hat, it was a very cheap one ; and 
therefore proved a real sham and shave ; it leaked like an 


100 


REDBURN; 


/ 


old shingle roof ; and in a rain storm, kept my hair wet and 
disagreeable. Besides, .from lying down on deck in it, dur- 
ing the night watches, it got bruised and battered, and lost 
all its beauty ; so that it was unprofitable every way. 

But I had almost forgotten my shooting-jacket, which 
was made of moleskin. Every day, it grew smaller and 
smaller, particularly after a rain, until at last I thought it 
would completely exhale, and leave nothing but the bare 
seams, by way of a skeleton, on my back. It became un- 
speakably unpleasant, when we got into rather cold weather, 
crossing the Banks of Newfoundland, when the only way I 
had to keep warm during the night, was to pull on my 
waistcoat and my roundabout, and then clap the shooting- 
jacket over all. This made it pinch me under the arms, 
and it vexed, irritated, and tormented me every way ; and 
used to incommode my arms seriously when I was pulling 
the ropes ; so much so, that the mate asked me once if I 
had the cramp. 

I may as well here glance at some trials and tribulations 
of a similar kind. I had no mattress, or bed-clothes, of any 
sort ; for the thought of them had never entered my mind 
before going to sea ; so that I was obliged to sleep on the 
bare boards of my bunk ; and when the ship pitched vio- 
lently, and almost stood upon end, I must have looked like 
an Indian baby tied to a plank, and hung up against a tree 
like a crucifix. 

I have already mentioned my total want of table-tools ; 
never dreaming, that, in this respect, going to sea as a sailor 
was something like going to a boarding-school, where you 
must furnish your own spoon and knife, fork, and napkin. 
'But at length, I was so happy as to barter with a steerage 
passenger a silk handkerchief of mine for a half-gallon iron 
pot, with hooks to it, to hang on a grate ; and this pot I 
used to present at the cook-house for my allowance of coffee 
and tea. It gave me a good deal of trouble, though, to keep 
it clean, being much disposed to rust ; and the hooks some- 


>9 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


101 


times scratched my face when I was drinking ; and it was 
unusually large and heavy ; so that my breakfasts were de- 
prived of aU ease and satisfaction, and became a toil and a 
labor to me. And I was forced to use the same pot for my 
bean-soup, three times a week, which imparted to it a bad 
flavor for cofiee. 

I can not tell how I really sufiered in many ways for 
my improvidence and heedlessness, in going to sea so ill 
provided with every thing calculated to make my situation 
at all comfortable, or even tolerable. In time, my wretch- 
ed “ long togs” began to drop off* my back, and I looked 
like a Sam Patch, shambling round the deck in my rags 
and the wreck of my gaff- topsail-hoots. I often thought 
what my friends at home would have said, if they could 
but get one peep at me. But I hugged myself in my mis- 
erable shooting-jacket, when I considered that that degrada- 
tion and shame never could overtake me ; yet, I thought it 
a galhng mockery, when I remembered that my sisters had 
promised to tell all inquiring friends, that Wellingborough 
had gone abroad just as if I was visiting Europe on a 
tour with my tutor, as poor simple Mr. Jones had hinted to 
the captain. 

Still, in spite of the melancholy which sometimes over- 
took me, there were several little incidents that made me 
forget myself in the contemplation of the grange and to me 
most wonderful sights of the sea. 

And perhaps nothing struck into me such a feeling of 
wild romance, as a view of the first vessel we spoke. It 
was of a clear sunny afternoon, and she came bearing down 
upon us, a most beautiful sight, with all her sails spread 
wide. She came very near, and passed under our stern ; 
and as she leaned over to the breeze, showed her decks fore 
and aft ; and I saw the strange sailors grouped upon the 
forecastle, and the cook looking out of his cook-house with a 
ladle in his hand, and the captain in a green jacket sitting 
on the tafirail with a speaking-trumpet. 


102 


REDBURN: 


And here, had this vessel come out of the infinite blue 
ocean, with all these human beings on board, and the smoke 
tranquilly mounting up into the sea-air from the cook’s fun- 
nel as if it were a chimney in a city ; and every thing look- 
ing so cool, and calm, and of-course, in the midst of what 
to me, at least, seemed a superlative marvel. 

Hoisted at her mizzen-peak was a red flag, with a turret 
ed white castle in the middle, which looked foreign enough, 
and made me stare all the harder. 

Our captain, who had put on another hat and coat, and 
was lounging in an elegant attitude on the poop, now put 
his high polished brass trumpet to his mouth, and said in a 
very rude voice for conversation, Where from?'' 

To which the other captain rejoined with some outlandish 
Dutch gibberish, of which we could only make out, that the 
ship belonged to Hamburg, as her flag denoted. 

Hamburg ! Bless my ’ soul ! and here T am on the 
great Atlantic Ocean, actually beholding a;ship from Hol- 
land ! It was passing strange. In my intervals of leisure 
from other duties, I followed the strange ship till she was 
quite a little speck in the distance. 

I could not but be struck with the manner of the two 
sea-captains during their 'brief interview. Seated at their 
ease on their respective “ poops” toward the stern of their 
ships, while the*sailors were obeying their behests ; they 
touched hats to each other, exchanged compliments, and 
drove on, with all the indifference of two* Arab horsemen 
accosting each other on an airing in the Desert. To them, 
I suppose, the great Atlantic Ocean was a puddla 




CHAPTER XVI. 


AT DEAD OP NIGHT HE IS SENT UP TO LOOSE THE MAIN- 
SKYSAIL. 

1 MUST now run back a little, and tell of my first going 
aloft at sea. 

It happened on the second night out of port, during the 
middle watch, when the sea was quite calm, and the breeze 
was mild. > 

The order was given to loose the tnain-skysail, which is 
the fifth and highest sail from deck. It was a very small 
sail, and from the forecastle looked no bigger than a cambric 
pocket-handkerchief. But I have heard that some ships 
carry still smaller sails, above the skysail ; called Tnoon-sails, 
and sky-scrape7's, and cloud-rakers. But I shall not believe 

• in them till I see them ; a skysail seems high enough in all 
conscience ; and the idea of any thing higher than that, 
seems preposterous. Besides, it looks almost like tempting 
heaven, to brush the very firmament so, and almost put the 
eyes of the stars out ; when a flaw of wiiy^, too, might very 
soon take the conceit out of these cloud-defying cloud- 
rakers. 

Now, when the order was passed to loose the skysail, an 
old Dutch sailor came up to me, and said, “ Buttons, my 
boy, it’s high time you be doing something ; and it’s boy’s 
business. Buttons, to loose de royals, and not old men’s busi- 
ness, like me. Now, d’ye see dat leetle fellow way up dare ? 
dare^ just behind dem stars dare : well, tumble up, now. 
Buttons, I zay, and looze him ; way you go. Buttons,” 

AU the rest joining in, and seeming unanimous in the 

• tpinion, that it was high time for me to be stirring myself, 


104 


REDB URN: 


and doing bm/s business, as they called it, I made no more 
ado, but jumped into the rigging. Up I went, not daring 
to look down, hut keeping my eyes glued, as it were, to the 
shrouds, as I ascended. 

It was a long road up those stairs, and I began to pant 
and breathe hard, before I was half way. But I kept at it 
till I got to the Jacob's Ladder ; and they may well call it 
so,, for it took me almost into the clouds ; and at last, to my 
own amazement, I found myself hanging on the skysail- 
yard, holding on might and main to the mast ; and curling 
my feet 'round the rigging, as if they were another pair of 
hands. 

For a few moments I stood awe-stricken and mute. I 
could not see far out upon the ocean, owing to the darkness 
of the night ; and from my lofty perch, the sea looked like 
a great, black gulf, hemmed in, all round, by beetling black 
cliffs. I seemed all alone ; treading the midnight clouds ; 
and every second, expected to find myself falling — falling — 
falling, as I have felt when the nightmare has been on me. 

I could but just perceive the ship below me, like a long 
narrow plank in the water ; and it did not seem to ‘belong 
at all to the yard, over which I was hanging. A gull, or 
some sort of sea-fowl, was flying round the truck over my 
head, within a few yards of my face ; and it almost fright- 
ened me to hear it ; it seemed so much like a spirit, at such 
a lofty and solitary height. 

Though there was a pretty smooth sea, and little wind ; 
yet, at this extreme elevation, the ship’s motion was very 
great ; so that when the ship rolled one way, I felt some- 
thing as a fly must feel, walking the ceiling ; and when it 
rolled the other way, I felt as if I was hanging along a 
slanting pine-tree. 

But presently I heard a distant, hoarse noise from below ; 
and though I could not make out any thing intelligible, I 
knew it w^as the mate hurrying me. So in a nervous, trem- 
bling desperation, I w'ent to casting off the gaskets, or lines 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


105 


tying up the sail ; and when all was ready, sung out as I 
had been told, to hoist away T And hoist they did, and 
me too along with the yard and sail ; for I had no time to 
get off, they were so unexpectedly quick about it. It seemed 
like magic ; there I was, going up higher and higher ; the 
yard rising under me, as if it were alive, and no soul in 
sight. Without knowing it at the time, I was in a good 
deal of danger, but it was so dark that I could not see well 
enough to feel afraid — at least on that account ; though I 
felt frightened enough in a promiscuous way. I only held 
on hard, and made good the saying of old sailors, that the 
last person to fall overboard from the rigging is a landsman, 
because he grips the ropes so fiercely ; whereas old tars are 
less careful, and sometimes pay the penalty. 

After this feat, I got down rapidly on deck, and received 
something like a compliment from Max the Dutchman. 

This man was perhaps the best natured man among the 
crew ; at any rate, he treated me better than the rest did ; 
and for that reason he deserves some mention. 

Max was an old bachelor of a sailor, very precise abou+ 
his wardrobe, and prided himself greatly upon his seamam 
ship, and entertained some straight-laced, old-fashioned no- 
tions about the duties of boys at sea. His hair, whiskers, 
and cheeks were of a fiery red ; and as he wore a red shirt, 
he was altogether the most combustible looking man I ever 
saw. 

Nor did his appearance befie him ; for his temper was 
very inflammable ; and at a word, he would explode in a 
shower of hard words and imprecations. It was Max that 
several times set on foot those conspiracies against Jackson, 
which I have spoken of before ; but he ended by paying him 
a grumbling homage, full of resentful reservations. 

Max sometimes manifested some httle interest in my 
welfare ; and often discoursed concerning the sorry figure I 
would cut in my tatters when we got to Liverpool, and the 
discredit it would bring on the American Merchant Service ; 

E* 


106 


REDBURN; 


for like all European seamen in American ships, Max prided 
himself not a little upon his naturalization as a Yankee, and 
if he could, would have been very glad to have passed him- 
self off for a born native. 

But notwithstanding his grief at the prospect of my re- 
flecting discredit upon his adopted country, he never offered 
to better my wardrobe, by loaning me any thing from his 
own well-stored chest. Like many other well-wishers, he 
contented him with sympathy. Max also betrayed some 
anxiety to know whether I knew how to dance ; lest, when 
the ship’s company went ashore, I should disgrace them by 
exposing my awkwardness in some of the sailor saloons. 
But I relieved his anxiety on that head. 

He was a great scold, and fault-finder, and often took me 
to task about my short-comings ; but herein, he was not 
alone ; for every one had a finger, or a thumb, and sometimes 
both hands, in my unfortunate pie. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

THE COOK AND STEWARD. 

It was on a Sunday we made the Banks of Newfound- 
land ; a drizzling, foggy, clammy Sunday. You could hardly 
see the water, owing to the mist and vapor upon it ; and 
every thing was so flat and calm, I almost thought we must 
have somehow got back to New York, and were lying at 
the foot of Wall-street again in a rainy twilight. The 
decks were dripping with wet, so that in the dense fog, it 
seemed as if we were standing on the roof of a house in a 
shower. 

It was a most miserable Sunday ; and several of the 
sailors had twinges of the rheumatism, and pulled on their 
monkey-jackets. As for Jackson, he was all the time rub- 
bing his back and snarling like a dog. 

I tried to recall all my pleasant, sunny Sundays ashore ; 
and tried to imagine what they were doing at home ; and 
whether our old family friend, Mr. Bridenstoke, would drop 
in, with his silver-mounted tasseled cane, between churches, 
as he used to ^ and whether he would inquire about 
myself. 

But it would not do. I could hardly realize that it was 
Sunday at- all. Every thing went on pretty much the same 
as before. There w^as no church to go to ; no place to take 
a walk in ; no friend to call upon. I began to think it 
must be a sort of second Saturday ; a foggy Saturday, when 
school-boys stay at home reading Robinson Crusoe. 

The only man who seemed to be taking his ease that day, 
was our black cook ; who according to the invariable custom 
it sea, always went by the name of the doctor. 


108 


REDBURN: 


And doctors,^ cooks certainly are, the very best medicos 
in the world; for what pestilent pills and potions of the 
Faculty are half so servicable to man, and health-and-strength- 
giving, as roasted lamb and green peas, say, in spring ; and 
roast beef and cranberry sauce in winter ? Will a dose of 
calomel and jalap do you as much good ? Will a bolus 
build up a fainting man ? Is there any satisfaction in 
dining off a powder ? But these doctors of the frying-pan 
sometimes kill men off by a surfeit ; or give them the head- 
ache, at least. Well, what then ? No matter. For if 
with their most goodly and ten times jolly medicines, they 
now and then fill our nights with tribulations, and abridge 
our days, what of the social homicides perpetrated by the 
Faculty ? And when you die by a pill-doctor’s hands, it is 
never with a sweet relish in your mouth, as though you died 
by a frying-pan-doctor ; but your last breath villainously 
savors of ipecac and rhubarb. Then, what charges they ‘ 
make for the abominable lunches they serve out so stingily ! 
One of their bills for boluses would keep you in good, dinners 
a twelvemonth. 

Now, our doctor was a serious old fellow, much given to 
metaphysics, and used to talk about original sin. All that 
Sunday morning, he sat over his boiling pots, reading out of 
a book which was very much soiled and covered with grease 
spots ; for he kept it stuck into a little leather strap, nailed 
to the keg where he kept the fat skimmed off the water in 
which the salt beef was cooked. I could hardly believe my 
eyes when I found this book was the Bible. 

I loved to peep in upon him, when he was thus absorbed ; 
for his smoky studio or study was a strange-looking place 
enough ; not more than five feet square, and about as many 
high ; a mere box to hold the stove, the pipe of which stuck 
out of the roof 

Within, it was hung round with pots and pans ; and on one 
side was a little looking-glass, where he used to shave ; and on 
a small shelf were his shaving tools, and a comb and brush. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


109 


Fronting the stove, and very close to it, was a sort of narrow 
shelf, where he used to sit with his legs spread out very 
wide, to keep them from scorching ; and there, with his 
book in one hand, and a pewter spoon in the other, he sat 
all that Sunday morning, stirring up his pots, and studying 
away at the same time ; seldom taking his eye off the page. 
Reading must have been very hard work for him ; for he 
muttered to himself quite loud as he read ; and big drops 
of sweat would stand upon his brow, and roll off, till they 
hissed on the hot stove before him. 

But on the day I speak of, it was no wonder that he got 
perplexed, for he was reading a mysterious passage in the 
Book of Chronicles. Being aware that I knew how to read, 
he called me as I was passing his premises, and read the 
passage over, demanding an explanation. I told him it was 
a mystery that no one could explain ; not even a parson. 
But this did not satisfy him, and I left him poring over it 
still. 

He must have been a member of one of those negro 
churches, which are to be found in New York. For when 
we lay at the wharf, I remembered that a committee of 
three reverend looking old darkies, who, besides their natural 
canonicals, wore quaker-cut black coats, and broad-brimmed 
black hats, and white neck-cloths ; these colored gentlemen 
called upon him, and remained conversing with him at his 
cook-house door for more than an hour ; and before they 
went away they stepped inside, and the sliding doors were 
closed ; and then we heard some one reading aloud and 
preaching ; and after that a psalm was sung and a benedic- 
tion given ; when the door opened again, and the congrega- 
tion came out in a great perspiration ; owing, I suppose, to 
the chapel being so small, and there being only one seat 
besides the stove. 

But notwithstanding his religious studies and meditations, 
this old fellow used to use some had language occasionally ; 
particularly of cold, wet, stormy mornings, when he had to 


110 


REDBURN: 


get up before daylight and make his fire ; with the sea 
breaking over the bows, and now and then dashing into his 
stove. 

So, under the circumstances, you could not blame him 
much, if he did rip a little, for it would have tried old Job’s 
temper, to be set to work making a fire in the water. 

Without being at all neat about his premises, this old 
cook was very particular about them ; he had a warm love 
and aftection for his cook-house. In fair weather, he spread 
the skirt of an old jacket before the door, by way of a mat; 
and screwed a small ring-bolt into the door for a knocker ; 
and wrote his name, “ Mr. Thompson,” over it, with a bit 
of red chalk. 

The men said he lived round the corner of Forecastle- 
square, opposite the Liberty Pole; because his cook-house 
was right behind the foremast, and very near the quarters 
occupied by themselves. 

Sailors have a great fancy for naming things that way on 
shipboard. When a man is hung at sea, which, is always 
done from one of the lower yard-arms, they say he “ takes a 
walk up Ladder -lane, and down Hemp-street ^ 

Mr. Thompson was a great crony of the steward’s, who, 
being a handsome, dandy mulatto, that had once been a 
barber in West-Broad way, went by the name of Lavender. 
I have mentioned the gorgeous turban he wore when Mr. 
Jones and I visited the captain in the cabin. He never 
wore that turban at sea, though ; but sported an uncommon 
head of frizzled hair, just like the large, round brush, used 
for washing windows, called a Pope's Head. 

He kept it well perfumed with Cologne water, of which 
he had a large supply, the relics of his West-Broadway 
stock in trade. His clothes, being mostly cast-ofF suits of the 
captain of a London liner, whom he had sailed with upon 
many previous voyages, were all in the height of the explod- 
ed fashions, and of every kind of color and cut. He had 
claret-colored suits, and snuff-colored suits, and red velvet 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


Ill 


vests, and buff and brimstone pantaloons, and several full 
suits of black, which, with his dark-colored face, made bim 
look quite clerical ; like a serious young colored gentleman of 
Barbadoes, about to take orders. 

He wore an uncommon large pursy ring on his fore-finger, 
with something he called a real diamond in it ; though it 
was very dim, and looked more hke a glass eye than any 
thing else. He was very proud of his ring, and was always 
calling your attention to something, and pointing at it with 
his ornamented finger. 

He was a sentimental sort of a darky, and read the “ Three 
Spaniards,'' and “ Charlotte Temple," and carried a lock 
of frizzled hair in his vest pocket, which he frequently 
volunteered to show to people, with his handkerchief to his 
eyes. 

Every fine evening, about sunset, these two, the cook and 
steward, used to sit on the little shelf in the cook-house, 
leaning up against each other like the Siamese twins, to 
keep from falling off, for the shelf was very short ; and there 
they would stay till after dark, smoking their pipes, and gos- 
siping about the events that had happened during the day in 
the cabin. 

And sometimes Mr. Thompson would take down his 
Bible, and read a chapter for the edification of Lavender, 
whom he knew to be a sad profligate and gay deceiver ashore ; 
addicted to every youthful indiscretion. He would read over 
to him the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife ; and hold 
Joseph up to him as a young man of excellent principles, 
whom he ought to imitate, and not be guilty of his indiscre 
tion any more. And Lavender would look serious, and say 
that he knew it was all true — he was a wicked youth, he 
knew it — he had broken a good many hearts, and many eyes 
were weeping for him even then, both in New York, and 
Liverpool, and London, and Havre. But how could he help 
it ? He hadn’t made his handsome face, and fine head of 
hair, and graceful figure. It was not he, but the others, 


112 


REDBURN: 


that were to blame ; for his bewitching person turned all 
heads and subdued all hearts, wherever he went. And then 
he would look very serious and penitent, and go up to the 
little glass, and pass his hands through his hair, and see how 
his whiskers were coming on. 


CHAPTEPw XVIII. 


HE ENDEAVORS TO IMPROVE HIS MIND ; AND TELLS OF ONE 
BLUNT AND HIS DREAM-BOOK. 

On the Sunday afternoon I spoke of, it was my watch 
below, and I thought I would spend it profitably, in improv- 
ing my mind. 

My bunk was an upper one ; and right over the head of 
it was a bulVs-eye, or circular piece of thick ground glass, 
inserted into the deck to give light. It was a dull, dubious 
light, though ; and I often found myself looking up anxiously 
to see whether the bull’s eye had not suddenly been put out ; 
for whenever any one trod on it, in walking the deck, it was 
momentarily quenched ; and what was still worse, sometimes 
a coil of rope would be thrown down on it, and stay there 
till I dressed myself and went up to remove it — a kind of 
interruption to my studies which annoyed me very much, 
when diligently occupied in reading. 

However, I was glad of any light at all, down in that 
gloomy hole, where we burrowed like rabbits in a warren ; 
and it was the happiest time I had, when all my messmates 
were asleep, and I could lie on my back, during a forenoon 
watch below, and read in comparative quiet and seclusion. 

I had already read two books loaned to me by Max, to 
whose share they had fallen, in dividing the effects of the 
sailor who had jumped overboard. One was an account of 
Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, and the other was a large 
black volume, with Delirium Tremens in great gilt letters 
on the back. This proved to be a popular treatise on the 
subject of that disease ; and I remembered seeing several 


114 


REDBURN: 


copies in the sailor book-stalls about Fulton Market, and 
along South-street, in New York. 

But this Sunday I got out a book, from which I expected 
to reap great profit and sound instruction. It had been pre- 
sented to me by Mr. Jones, who had quite a library, and 
took down this book from a top shelf, where it lay very 
dusty. When he gave it to me, he said, that although I' 
was going to sea, I must not forget the importance of a good 
education ; and that there was hardly any situation in life, 
however humble and depressed, or dark and gloomy, but one 
might find leisure in it to store his mind, and build himself 
up in the exact sciences. And he added, that though it did 
look rather unfavorable for my future prospects, to be going 
to sea as a common sailor so early in life ; yet, it would no 
doubt turn out for my benefit in the end ; and, at any rate, 
if I would only take good care of myself, would give me a 
sound constitution, if nothing more ; and that was not to be 
undervalued, for how many very rich men would give all 
their bonds and mortgages for my boyish robustness. 

He added, that I need not expect any light, trivial work, 
■chat was merely entertaining, and nothing more ; but here I 
would find entertainment and edification beautifully and har- 
moniously combined ; and though, at first, I might possibly 
find it dull, yet, if I perused the book thoroughly, it would 
soon discover hidden charms and unforeseen attractions ; be- 
sides teaching me, perhaps, the true way to retrieve the 
poverty of my family, and again make them all well to do 
in the world. 

Saying this, he handed it to me, and I blew the dust off, and 
looked at the back : “ Smith's Wealth of Nations." This 
not satisfying me, I glanced at the title page, and found it was 
an “ Enquiry into the Nature and Causes" of the alleged 
wealth of nations. But happening to look further down, 1 
caught sight of “ Aberdeen f where the book was printed ; 
and thinking that any thing from Scotland, a foreign coun- 
try, must prove some way or other pleasing to me, I thanked 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


115 


Mr. Jones very kindly, and promised to peruse the volumt 
carefully. 

So, now, lying in my bunk, I began the book method- 
ically, at page number one, resolved not to permit a few 
flying glimpses into it, taken previously, tp prevent me from 
making regular approaches to the gist and body of the book, 
where I fancied lay something like the philosopher’s stone, a 
secret talisman, which would transmute even pitch and tar 
to silver and gold. 

Pleasant, though vague visions of future opulence floated 
before me, as I commenced the first chapter, entitled “ Of 
the causes, of improvement in the productive power of labor. 
Dry as crackers and cheese, to be sure ; and the chapter itself 
was not much better. But this was only getting initiated ; 
and if I read on, the grand seci^et would be opened to me. So 
I read on and on, about “ wages and profits of labor,” with- 
out getting any profits myself for my pains in perusing it. 

Dryer and dryer ; the very leaves smelt of saw-dust ; till 
at last I drank some water, and went at it again. But soon 
I had to give it up for lost work ; and thought that the old 
backgammon board, we had at home, lettered on the back, 
“ The History of Rome,” was quite as full of matter, and 
a great deal more entertaining. I wondered whether Mr. 
Jones had ever read the volume himself ; and could not help 
remembering, that he had to get on a chair when he reached 
it down from its dusty shelf ; that certainly looked suspicious. 

The best reading was on the fly leaves ; and, on turning 
them over, I lighted upon some half effaced pencil-marks to 
the following effect : “ Jonathan Jones, from his particular 
friend Daniel Dods, 1798.” So it must have originally 
belonged to Mr. Jones’ father ; and I wondered whether he 
had ever read it ; or, indeed, whether any body had ever 
read it, even the author himself; but then authors, they 
say, never read their own books ; writing them, being enough 
in all conscience. 

At length I fell asleep, with the volume in my hand ; and 


116 


RED BURN: 


never slept so sound before ; after that, I used to wrap my 
jacket round it, and use it for a pillow ; for which purpose 
it answered very well ; only I sometimes waked up feeling 
dull and stupid ; but of course the book could not have been 
the cause of that. 

And now I am talking of books, I must tell of Jack Blunt 
the sailor, and his Dream Book. 

Jackson, who seemed to know every thing about all parts 
of the world, used to tell Jack in reproach, that he was an 
Irish Cockney. By which I understood, that he was an 
Irishman born, but had graduated in London, somewhere 
about Radcliffe Highway ; but he had no sort of brogue 
that I could hear. 

He was a curious looking fellow, about twenty-five years 
old, as I should judge ; but to look at his back, you would 
have taken him for a little old man. His arms and legs were 
very large, round, short, and stumpy ; so that when he had 
on his great monkey-jacket, and sou’ west cap flapping in 
his face, and his sea boots drawn up to his knees, he looked 
like a fat porpoise, standing on end. He had a round face, 
too, like a walrus ; and with about the same expression, half 
human and half indescribable. He was, upon the whole, a 
good-natured fellow, and a little given to looking at sea-life 
romantically ; singing songs about susceptible mermaids who 
fell in love with handsome young oyster boys and gallant 
fishermen. And he had a sad story about a man-of-war’ s- 
man who broke his heart at Portsmouth during the late 
war, and threw away his life recklessly at one of the quar- 
ter-deck caronades, in the battle between the Guerriere and 
Constitution ; and another incomprehensible story about a 
sort of fairy sea-queen, who used to be dunning a sea-captain 
all the time for his autograph to boil in some eel soup, for a 
spell against the scurvy. 

He believed in all kinds of witch- work and magic ; and had 
some wild Irish words he used to mutter over during a calm 
for a fair wind. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


117 


And he frequently related his interviews in Liverpool with 
a fortune-teller, an old negro woman by the name of De 
Squak, whose house was much frequented by sailors ; and 
how she had two black cats, with remarkably green eyes, and 
nightcaps on their heads, solemnly seated on a claw-footed 
table near the old goblin ; when she felt his pulse, to tell what 
was going to befall him. 

This Blunt had a large head of hair, very thick and 
bushy ; but from some cause or other, it was rapidly turn- 
ing gray ; and in its transition state made him look as if 
he wore a shako of badger skin. 

The phenomenon of gray hairs on a young head, had per- 
plexed and confounded this Blunt to such a degree that he 
at last came to the conclusion it must be the result of the 
black art, ,wrought upon him by an enemy ; and that ene- 
my, he opined, was an old sailor landlord in Marseilles, whom 
he had once seriously offended, by knocking him down in 
a fray. 

So while in New York, finding his hair growing grayer 
and grayer, and all his friends, the ladies and others, laugh- 
ing at him, and calling him an old man with one foot in 
the grave, he slipt out one night to an apothecary’s, stated 
his case, and wanted to know what could be done for him. 

The apothecary immediately gave him a pint bottle of 
something he called “ Trafalgar Oil for restoring the hair,” 
price one dollar ; and told him that after he had used that 
bottle, and it did not have the desired effect, he must try 
bottle No. 2, called “ Balm of Paradise, or the Elixir of 
the Battle of Copenhagen T These high-sounding naval 
names delighted Blunt, and he had no doubt there must be 
virtue in them. 

I saw both bottles ; and on one of them was an engrav- 
ing, representing a young man, presumed to be gray-headed, 
standing in his night-dress in the middle of his chamber, 
and with closed eyes applying the Elixir to his head, with 
both hands ; while on the bed adjacent stood a large bottle. 


118 


REDBUEN: 


conspicuously labeled, “ Balm of Paradise.^^ It seemed 
from the text, that this gray-headed young man was so smit- 
ten with his hair-oil, and was so thoroughly persuaded of 
its virtues, that he had got out of bed, even in his sleep ; 
groped into his closet, seized the precious bottle, applied its 
contents, and then to bed again, getting up in the morn- 
ing without knowing any thing about it. Which, indeed, 
was a most mysterious occurrence ; and it was still more 
mysterious, how the engraver came to know an event, of 
which the actor himself was ignorant, and where there were 
no bystanders. 

Three times in the twenty-four hours. Blunt, while at 
sea, regularly rubbed in his liniments ; but though the first 
bottle was soon exhausted by his copious applications, and 
the second half gone, he still stuck to it, that by the time 
we got to Liverpool, his exertions would be crowned with 
success. And he was not a little delighted, that this gradual 
change would be operating while we were at sea ; so as not 
to expose him to the invidious observations of pepple ashore ; 
on the same principle that dandies go into the country when 
they purpose raising whiskers. He would often ask his ship- 
mates, whether they noticed any change yet ; and if so, how 
much of a change? And to tell the truth, there was a 
very great change indeed ; for the constant soaking of his 
hair with oil, operating ‘in conjunction with the neglect of 
his toilet, and want of a brush and comb, had matted his 
locks together like a wild horse’s mane, and imparted to it 
a blackish and extremely glossy hue. 

Besides his collection of hair-oils. Blunt had also provided 
himself with several boxes of pills, which he had purchased 
from a sailor doctor in New York, who by placards stuck on 
the posts along the wharves, advertised to remain standing 
at the northeast corner of Catharine Market, every Monday 
and Friday, between the hours of ten and twelve in the 
morning, to receive calls from patients, distribute medicines, 
and give advice gratis. 


HIS FIRST V O Y A G F. 


119 


Whether Blunt thought he had the dyspepsia or not, I 
can not say ; hut at breakfast, he always took three pills 
^ with his coffee ; something as they do in Iowa, when the 
bilious fever prevails ; where, at the boarding-houses, they 
put a vial of blue pills into the castor, along with the pepper 
and mustard, and next door to another vial of toothpicks. 
But they are very ill-bre^ and unpolished in the westerr 
country. 

Several times, too. Blunt treated himself to a flowing 
bumper of horse salts (Glauber salts) ; for like many other 
seamen, he never went to sea without a good supply of that 
luxury. He would frequently, also, take this medicine in a 
wet jacket, and then go on deck into a rain storm. But 
this is nothing to other sailors, who at sea will doctor them- 
selves with calomel off Capo Horn, and still remain on duty. 
And in this connection, some really frightful stories might 
be told ; but I forbear. 

For a landsman to take salts as this Blunt did, it would 
perhaps be the death of him ; but at sea the salt air and 
the salt water prevent you from catching cold so readily as 
on land ; and for my own part, on board this very ship, 
being so illy-provided with clothes, I frequently turned into 
my bunk soaking wet, and turned out again piping hot, and 
smoking like a roasted sirloin ; and yet was never the worse 
for it ; for then, I bore a charmed life of youth and health, 
and was dagger-proof to bodily ill. 

But it is time to tell of the Dream Book. Snugly hidden 
in one corner of his chest. Blunt had an extraordinary looking 
pamphlet, with a red cover, marked all over with astrological 
signs and ciphers, and purporting to be a full and complete 
treatise on the art of Divination ; so that the most simple 
sailor could teach it to himself. 

It also purported to be the selfsame system, by aid of 
which Napoleon Bonaparte had risen in the world from 
being a corporal to an emperor. Hence it was entitled the 
Bonaparte Dream Book; for the magic of it lay in the 


120 


REDBURN: 


interpretation of dreams, and their application to the fore- 
seeing of future events ; so that all preparatory measures 
might be taken beforehand ; which would be exceedingly ^ 
convenient, and satisfactory every way, if true. The 
problems were to be cast by means of figures, in some 
perplexed and difficult way, which, however, was facilitated 
by a set of tables in the end of the pamphlet, something 
like the Logarithm Tables at the end of Bowditch’s Nav- 
igator. ' 

Now, Blunt revered, adored, and worshiped this Bona- 
'parte Dream Book of his ; and was fully persuaded that 
between those red covers, and in his own dreams, lay all the 
secrets of futurity. Every morning before taking his pills, 
and applying his hair-oils, he would steal out of his bunk 
before the rest of the watch were awake ; take out his 
pamphlet, and a bit of chalk ; and then straddling his chest, 
begin scratching his oily head to remember his fugitive 
dreams ; marking down strokes on his chest-lid, as if he were 
casting up his daily accounts. ^ 

Though often perplexed and lost in mazes concerning the 
cabalistic figures in the book, and the chapter of directions 
to beginners ; for he could with difficulty read at all ; yet, 
in the end, if not interrupted, he somehow managed to 
arrive at a conclusion satisfactory to him. So that, as he 
generally wore a good-humored expression, no doubt he must 
have thought, that all his future affairs were working together 
for the best. 

But one night he started us all up in a fright, by springing 
from his bunk, his eyes ready to start out of his head, and 
crying, in a husky voice — “ Boys ! boys ! get the benches 
ready ! Quick, quick !” 

“ What benches ?” growled Max — “ What’s the matter ?” 

“ Benches ! benches !” screamed Blunt, without heeding 
him, “ cut down the forests, bear a hand, boys ; the Day of 
Judgment’s coming !” 

But the next moment, he got quietly into his bunk, and 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


121 


laid still, muttering to himself, he had only been rambling in 
his sleep. 

I did not know exactly what he had meant by his 
benches; till, shortly after, I overheard two of the sailors 
debating, whether mankind would stand or sit at the Last 
Day. 

F 


CHAPTER XIX. 


A NARROW ESCAPE. 

This Dream Book of Blunt’s reminds me of a narrow 
escape wo had, early one morning. 

It was the larboard watch’s turn to remain below from 
midnight till four o’clock ; and having turned in and slept, 
Blunt suddenly turned out again about three o’clock, with a 
wonderful dream in his head ; which he was desirous of at 
once having interpreted. 

So he goes to his chest, gets out his tools, and falls to 
ciphering on the lid. When, all at once, a terrible cry was 
heard, that routed him and all the rest of us up, and sent 
the whole ship’s company flying on deck in theflark. We 
did not know what it was ; but somehow, among sailors at 
sea, they seem to know when real danger of any kind is at 
hand, even in their sleep. 

When we got on deck, we saw the mate standing on the 
bowsprit, and crying out Luff ! Luff ! to some one in the 
dark water before the ship. In that direction, we could 
just see a light, and then, the great black hull of a' strange 
vessel, that was coming down on us obliquely ; and so near, 
that we heard the flap of her topsails as they shook in the 
wind, the trampling of feet on the deck, and the same cry 
of Luff ! Luff I that our own mate was raising. 

In a minute more, I caught my breath, as I heard a 
' snap and a crash, like the fall of a tree, and suddenly, one 
of our flying-jib guys jerked out the bolt near the cat-head ; 
and presently, we heard our jib-boom thumping against our 
bows. 

Meantime, the strange ship, scraping by us thus, shot off 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


123 


into the darkness, and we saw her no more. But she, also, 
must have been injured ; for when it grew light, we found 
pieces of strange rigging mixed with ours. We repaired 
the damage, and replaced the broken spar with another jib- 
boom we had ; for all ships carry spare spars against 
emergencies. 

The cause of this accident,' w'hich came near being the 
death of all on board, was nothing but the drowsiness of the 
look-out men on the forecastles of both ships. The sailor 
who had the look-out on our vessel was terribly reprimanded 
by the mate. 

No doubt, many ships that are never heard of after leaving 
port, meet their fate in this way ; and it may be, that 
sometimes two vessels coming together, jib-boom-and-jib- 
boom, with a sudden shock in the middle watch of the 
night, mutually destroy each other ; and like fighting elks, 
sink down into the ocean, with their antlers locked in 
death. 

While I was at Liverpool, a fine ship that lay near us in 
the docks, having got her cargo on board, went to sea, 
bound for India, with a good breeze ; and all her crew felt 
sure of a prosperous voyage. But in about seven days after, 
she came back, a most distressing object to behold. All her 
starboard side was torn and splintered ; her starboard anchor 
was gone ; and a great part of the starboard bulwarks ; 
while every one of the lower yard-arms had been broken, in 
the same direction ; so that she now carried small and un- 
sightly jimj-yards. 

When I looked at this vessel, with the whole of one side 
thus shattered, but the other still in fine trim ; and when I 
remembered her gay and gallant appearance, when she left 
the same harbor into which she now entered so forlorn ; I 
could not help thinking of a young man I had known at 
home, who had left his cottage one morning in high spirits, 
and was brought back at noon with his right side paralyzed 
from head to foot. 


124 


REDBURN: 


It seems that this vessel had been run against by a strange 
ship, crowding all sail before a fresh breeze ; and the stran- 
ger had rushed past her starboard side, reducing her to the 
sad state in which she now was. 

Sailors can not be too wakeful and cautious, when keep- 
ing their night look-outs ; though, as I well know, they too 
often suffer themselves to become negligent, and nod. And 
this is not so wonderful, after all ; for though every seaman 
has heard of those accidents at sea ; and many of them, 
perhaps, have been in ships that have suffered from them ; 
yet, when you find yourself sailing along on the ocean at 
night, without having seen a sail for weeks and weeks, it is 
hard for you to realize that any are near. Then, if they 
are near, it seems almost incredible that on the broad, bound- 
less sea, which washes Greenland at one end of the world, 
and the Falkland Islands at the other, that any one vessel 
upon such a vast highway, should come into close contact 
with another. But the likelihood of great calamities occur- 
ring, seldom obtrudes upon the minds of ignorant men, such 
as sailors generally are ; for the things which wise people 
know, anticipate, and guard against, the ignorant can only 
become acquainted with, by meeting them face to face. And 
even when experience has taught them, the lesson only serves 
for that day ; inasmuch as the foolish in prosperity are infidels 
to the possibility of adversity ; they see the sun in heaven, and 
believe it to be far too bright ever to set. '' 

And even, as suddenly as the bravest and fleetest ships, 
while careering in pride of canvas over the sea, have been 
struck, as by lightning, and quenched out of sight ; even so, 
do some lordly men, with all their plans and prospects gal- 
lantly trimmed to the fair, rushing breeze of life, and with 
no thought of death and disaster, suddenly encounter a 
shock unforeseen, and go down, foundering, into death. 


CHAPTER XX. 


IN A FOG HE IS SET TO WORK AS A BELL-TOLLER, AND BEHOLDS 
A HERD OF OCEAN-ELEPHANTS. 

What is this that we sail through ? What palpable 
obscure ? What smoke and reek, as if the whole steaming 
world were revolving on its axis, as a spit ? 

It is a Newfoundland Fog ; and we are yet crossing the 
Grand Banks, wrapt in a mist, that no London in the No- 
vemberest November ever equaled. The chronometer pro- 
nounced it noon ; hut do you call this midnight or mid-day ? 
So dense is the fog, that though we have a fair wind, we 
shorten sail for fear of accidents ; and not only that, but 
here am I, poor Wellingborough, mounted aloft on a sort of 
belfry, the top of the “ Sampson- Post,'^ a lofty tower of 
timber, so called ; and tolling the ship’s bell, as if for a 
funeral. 

This is intended to proclaim our approach, and warn all 
strangers from our track. 

Dreary sound ! toll, toll, toll, through the dismal mist 
and fog. 

The bell is green with verdigris, and damp with dew ; 
and the little cord attached to the clapper, by which I toll 
it, now and then slides through my fingers, slippery with wet. 
Here I am, in my slouched black hat, like the “ hull that 
could pull,^^ announcing the decease of the lamented Cock- 
Robin. " 

A better device than the bell, however, was once pitched 
upon by an ingenious sea-captain, of whom I have heard. 
He had a litter of young porkers on board ; and while sail- 
ing through the fog, he stationed men at both ends of the 


126 


EEDBURN: 


pen with long poles, wherewith they incessantly stirred up 
and irritated the porkers, who split the air with their 
squeals ; and no doubt saved the ship, as the geese saved 
the Capitol. 

The most strange and unheard-of noises came out of the 
fog at times : a vast sound of sighing and sobbing. What 
could it be ? This would be followed by a spout, and a 
gush, and a cascading commotion, as if some fountain had 
suddenly jetted out of the ocean. 

Seated on my Sampson-Post, I stared more and more, 
and suspended my duty as a sexton. But presently some 
one cried out — “ There she blows I whales ! whales close 
alongside 

A whale ! ' Think of it ! whales close to me, Welling- 
borough ; — would my own brother believe it ? I dropt the 
clapper as if it were red-hot, and rushed to the side ; and 
there, dimly floating, lay four or five long, black snaky-look- 
ing shapes, only a few inches out of the water. 

Can these be whales ? Monstrous whales, such as I had 
heard of ? I thought they would look like mountains on the sea ; 
hills and valleys of flesh ! regular krakens, that made it high 
tide, and inundated continents, when they descended to feed ! 

It was a bitter disappointment, from which I was long in 
recovering. I lost all respect for whales ; and began to be 
a little dubious about the story of Jonah ; for how could 
Jonah reside in such an insignificant tenement ; how could 
he have had elbow-room there ? But perhaps, thought I, 
the whale, which according to Rabbinical traditions was a 
female one, might have expanded to receive him like an an- 
aconda, when it swallows an elk and leaves the antlers 
sticking out of its mouth. 

Nevertheless, from that day, whales greatly fell in my 
estimation. 

But it is always thus. If you read of St. Peter’s, they 
say, and then go and visit it, ten to one, you account it a 
dwarf compared to your high-raised ideal. And, doubtless. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE, 


127 


Jonah himself must have been disappointed when he looked 
up to the domed midriff surmounting the whale’s belly, 
and surveyed the ribbed pillars around him. A pretty 
large belly, to be sure, thought he, but not so big as it 
might have been. 

On the next day, the fog lifted ; and by noon, we found 
ourselves sailing through fleets of fishermen at anchor. 
They were very small craft ; and when I beheld them, I 
perceived the force of that sailor saying, intended to illus- 
trate restricted quarters, or being on the limits,. It is like a 
jisherman's ivalk, say they, three steps and overboard. 

Lying right in the track of the multitudinous ships cross 
ing the ocean between England and America, these little 
vessels are sometimes run down, and obliterated from the 
face of the waters ; the cry of the sailors ceasing with the 
last whirl of the whirlpool that closes over their craft. 
Their sad fate is frequently the result of their own remiss- 
ness in keeping a good look-out by day, and not having their 
lamps trimmed, like the wise virgins, by night. 

As I shall not make mention of the Grand Banks on 
our homeward-bound passage, I may as well here relate, 
that on our return, w’e approached them in the night ; and 
by way of making sure of our whereabouts, the deep-sea- 
lead was heaved. The line attached is generally upward 
of three hundred fathoms in length ; and the lead itself, 
weighing some forty or fifty pounds, has a hole in the lower 
end, in which, previous to sounding, some tallow is thrust, 
that it may bring up the soil at the bottom, for the captain 
to inspect. This is called “ arming'^ the lead. 

We “ hove” our deep-sea-line by night, and the operation 
was very interesting, at least to me. In the first place, the 
vessel’s heading was stopt ; then, coiled away in a tub, like 
a whale-rope, the line was placed toward the after part of 
the quarter-deck ; and one of the sailors carried the lead 
outside of the ship, away along to the end of the jib-boom, 
and at the word of command, far ahead and overboard it 


128 


RE DBURN: 


went, with a plunge ; scraping by the side, till it came to 
the stern, when the line ran out of the tub like light. 

When we came to haul it up, I was astonished at the 
force necessary to perform the work. The whole watch 
pulled at the line, which was rove through a block in the 
mizen-rigging, as if we were hauling up a fat porpoise 
When the lead came in sight, I was all eagerness to ex- 
amine the tallow, and get a peep at a specimen of the bot-. 
tom of the sea ; but the sailors did not seem to be much 
interested by it, calling me a fool for wanting to preserve a 
few grains of the sand. 

I had almost forgotten to make mention of the Gull 
Stream, in which we found ourselves previous to crossing 
the Banks. The fact of our being in it was proved by the 
captain in person, who superintended the drawing of a bucket 
of salt water, in which he dipped his thermometer. In the 
absence of the Gulf-weed, this is the general test ; for the 
temperature of this current is eight degrees higher than that 
of the ocean, and the temperature of the ocejan is twenty 
degrees higher than that of the Grand Banks. And it is to 
this remarkable difference of temperature, for which there 
can be no equilibrium, that many seamen impute the fogs 
on the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland ; but why 
there should always be such ugly weather in the Gulf, is 
something that I do not know has ever been accounted for. 

It is curious to dip one’s finger in a bucket full of the 
Gulf Stream, and find it so warm ; as if the Gulf of Mexico, 
from whence this current comes, were a great caldron or 
boiler, on purpose to keep warm the North Atlantic, which 
is traversed by it for a distance of two thousand miles, as 
some large halls in winter are by hot air tubes. Its mean 
breadth being about two hundred leagues, it comprises an 
area larger than that of the whole Mediterranean, and may 
be deemed a sort of Mississippi of hot water flowing through 
the ocean ; off the coast of Florida, running at the rate of 
one mile and a half an hour. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

A WHALEMAN AND A MAN-OF-WAE’S-MAN. 

The sight of the whales mentioned in the preceding 
chapter was the bringing out of Larry, one of our crew, who 
hitherto had been quite silent and reserved, as if from some 
conscious inferiority, though he had shipped as an ordifiary 
seaTTian, and, for aught I could see, performed his duty very 
well. 

When the men fell into a dispute concerning what kind 
of whales they were which we saw, Larry stood by atten- 
tively, and after garnering in their ignorance, all at once 
broke out, and astonished every body by his intimate ac- 
quaintance with the monsters. 

“ They ar’n’t sperm whales,” said Larry, “ their spouts 
ar’n’t bushy enough ; they ar’n’t Sulphur-bottoms, or they 
wouldn’t stay up so long ; they ar’n’t Hump-backs, for they 
ar’n’t got any humps ; they ar’n’t Fin-backs, for you won’t 
catch a Fin-back so near a ship ; they ar’n’t Greenland 
whales, for we ar’n’t off the coast of Greenland ; and they 
ar’n’t right whales, for it wouldn’t be right to say so. I tell 
ye, men, them’s Crinkum-crankum whales.” 

“ And what are them ?” said a sailor. 

“ Why, them is whales that can’t be cotched.” 

Now, as it turned out that this Larry had been bred to 
the sea in a whaler, and had sailed out of Nantucket many 
times ; no one but Jackson ventured to dispute his opinion ; 
and even Jackson did not press him very hard. And ever 
after, Larry’s judgment was relied upon concerning all 
strange fish that happened to float by us during the voyage ; 

F* 


130 


R E D B U R N : 


for whalemen are far more familiar with the wonders of the 
deep than any other class of seamen. 

This was Larry’s first voyage in Ihe merchant service, 
and that was the reason why, hitherto, he had been so re- 
served ; since he well knew that merchant seamen generally 
affect a certain superiority to blubber^boilers,''' as they con- 
temptuously style those who hunt the leviathan. But Larry 
turned out to be such an inofiensive fellow, and so well un- 
derstood his business aboard ship, and was so ready to jump 
to an order, that he was exempted from the taunts which he 
might otherwise have encountered. 

He was a somewhat singular man, who wore his hat 
slanting forward over the bridge of his nose, with his eyes 
cast down, and seemed always examining your boots, when 
speaking to you. I loved to hear him talk about the wild 
places in the Indian Ocean, and on the coast of Madagascar, 
where he had frequently touched during his whaling voyages. 
And this familiarity with the life of nature led by the people 
in that remote part of the world, had furnished Larry with 
a sentimental distaste for civilized society. When opportu- 
nity offered, he never omitted extolling the delights of the 
free and easy Indian Ocean. 

“ Why,” said Larry, talking through his nose, as usual, 
“ in Madagasky there, they don’t wear any togs at all, noth- 
ing but a bowline round the midships ; they don’t have no 
dinners, but keeps a dinin’ all day off fat pigs and dogs ; they 
don’t go to bed any where, but keeps a noddin’ all the time ; 
and they gets drunk, too, from some first rate arrack they 
make from cocoa-nuts ; and smokes plenty of ’baccy, too, I 
tell ye. Fine country, that ! Blast Ameriky, I say !” 

To tell the truth, this Larry dealt in some illiberal insin- 
uations against civilization. 

“ And what’s the use of bein’ snivelized said he to 
me one night during our watch on deck ; “ snivelized chaps 
only learns the way to take on ’bout life, and snivel. You 
don’t see any Methodist chaps feelin’ dreadful about their 


U I 8 F 1 ll s T VOYAGE. 


131 


souls ; you don’t see any darned beggars and pesky consta- 
bles in Madagaskij, I tell ye ; and none o’ them kings there gets 
their big toes pinched by the gout. Blast Ameriky, I say.” 

Indeed, this Larry was rather cutting in his innuendoes. 

“ Are yoic now, Buttons, any better off for bein’ snivel- 
ized ?” coming close up to me and eying the wreck of my 

gaff-topsail-boots very steadfastly. “No ; you a’rn’t a bit - 

but you’re a good deal icorse for it. Buttons. I tell ye, ye 
wouldn’t have been to sea here, leadin’ this dog’s life, if you 
hadn’t been snivelized — that’s the cause why, now. Snivel- 
ization has been the ruin on ye ; and it’s spiled me complete ; 
I might have been a great man in Madagasky ; it’s too 
darned bad ! Blast Ameriky, I say.” And in bitter grief 
at the social blight upon his whole past present, and future, 
Larry turned away, pulling his hat still lower down over the 
bridge of his nose. 

In strong contrast to Larry, was a young man-of-war’s 
man we had, who went by the name of “ Gun-Deck,'' from 
his always talking of sailor life in the navy. He was a 
little fellow with a small face and a prodigious mop of brown 
hair ; who always dressed in man-of-war style, with a wide, 
braided collar to his frock, and Turkish trowsers. But he 
particularly prided himself upon his feet, which were quite 
small ; and when we washed down decks of a morning, 
never mind how chilly it might be, he always took off his 
boots, and went paddling about like a duck, turning out his 
pretty toes to show his charming feet. 

He had served in the armed steamers during the Seminole 
War in Florida, and had a good deal to say about sailing 
up the rivers there, through the everglades, and popping off 
Indians on the banks. I remember his telling a story about 
a party being discovered at quite a distance from them ; but 
one of the savages was made very conspicuous by a pewter 
plate, which he wore round his neck, and which glittered in 
the sun. This plate proved his death ; for, according to 
Gun-Deck, he himself shot it through the middle, and the 


132 


R E D B U R N : 


ball entered the wearer’s heart. It was a rat-killing war, 
he said. 

Gun-Deck had touched at Cadiz : had been to Gibralter ; 
and ashore at Marseilles. He had sunned himself in the 
Bay of Naples; eaten figs and oranges in Messina; and 
cheerfully lost one of his hearts at Malta, among the ladies 
there. And about all these things, he talked like a romantic 
man-of-war’s man, who had seen the civilized world, and 
loved it ; found it good, and a comfortable place to live in. 
So he and Larry never could agree in their respective views 
of civilization, and of savagery, of the Mediterranean and 
Madagasky. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

THE HIGHLANDEPv, PASSES A WRECK. 

We were still on the Banks, when a terrific storm came 
down upon us, the like of which I had never before beheld, 
or imagined. The rain poured down in sheets and cascades ; 
the scupper holes could hardly carry it off the decks ; and 
in bracing the yards we waded about almost up to our 
knees ; every thing floating about, like chips in a dock. 

This violent rain was the precursor of a hard squall, for 
which we duly prepared, taking in our canvas to double- 
reefed-top-sails. 

The tornado came rushing along at last, like a troop of 
wild horse before the flaming rush of a burning prairie. 
But after bowing and cringing to it awhile, the good High- 
lander was put off before it ; and with her nose in the 
water, went wallowing on, ploughing milk-white waves, and 
leaving a streak of illuminated foam in her wake. 

It was an awful scene. It made me catch my breath as 
I gazed. I could hardly stand on my feet, so violent was 
the motion of the ship. But while I reeled to and fro, the 
sailors only laughed at me ; and bade me look out that the 
ship did not fall overboard ; and advised me to get a hand- 
spike, and hold it down hard in the weather-scuppers, to 
steady her wild motions. But I was now getting a little 
too wise for this foolish kind of talk ; though all through the 
voyage, they never gave it over. 

This storm past, we had fair weather until we got into 
the Irish Sea. 

The morning following the storm, when the sea and sky 
had become blue again, the man aloft sung out that there 


134 


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was a wreck on the lee-beam. We bore away for it, all 
hands looking eagerly toward it, and the captain in the 
mizzen-top with his spy -glass. Presently, we slowly passed 
alongside of it. 

It was a dismantled, water-logged schooner, a most dis- 
mal sight, that must have been drifting about for several 
long weeks. The bulwarks were pretty much gone ; and 
here and there the bare stanchions, or posts, were left stand- 
ing, splitting in two the waves which broke clear over the 
deck, lying almost even with the sea. The foremast was 
snapt off less than four feet from its base ; and the shattered 
and splintered remnant looked like the stump of a pine tree 
thrown over in the woods. Every time she rolled in the trough 
of the sea, her open main-hatchway yawned into view ; but 
was as quickly filled, and submerged again, with a rushing, 
gurgling sound, as the water ran into it with the lee-roll. 

At the head of the stump of the mainmast, about ten 
feet above the deck, something like a sleeve seemed nailed ; 
it was supposed to be the relic of a jacket, which must have* 
been fastened there by the crew for a signal, and been frayed 
out and blown away by the wind. 

Lashed, and leaning over sideways against the taffrail, 
were three dark, green, grassy objects, that slowly swayed 
with every roll, but otherwise were motionless. I saw the 
captain’s glass directed toward them, and heard him say at 
last, “ They must have been dead a long time.” These 
were sailors, who long ago had lashed themselves to the taff- 
rail for safety ; but must have famished. 

Full of the awful interest of the scene, I surely thought 
the captain would lower a boat to bury the bodies, and find 
out something about the schooner. But we did not stop at 
all ; passing on our course, without so much as learning the 
schooner’s name, though every one supposed her to be a New 
Brunswick lumberman. 

On the part of the sailors, no surprise was shown that our 
captain did not send off a boat to the wreck ; but the steer- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


135 


age passengers were indignant at what they called his bar- 
barity. For me, I could not but feel amazed and shocked 
at his indifference ; but my subsequent sea experiences have 
shown me, that such conduct as this is very common, though 
not, of course, when human life can be saved. 

So away we sailed, and left her ; drifting, drifting on ; a 
garden spot for barnacles, and a playhouse for the sharks. 

“ Look there,”" said Jackson, hanging over the rail and 
coughing — “ look there ; that’s a sailor’s coffin. Ha ! ha ! 
Buttons,” turning round to me — “ how do you like that. 
Buttons ? Wouldn’t you like to take a sail with them ’qre 
dead men ? Wouldn’t it be nice ?” And then he tried to 
laugh, but only coughed again. 

“ Don’t laugh at dem poor fellows,” said Max, looking 
grave ; “ do’ you see dar bodies, dar souls are farder off dan 
de Cape of Dood Hope.” 

“ Dood Hope, Dood Hope,” shrieked Jackson, with a hor- 
rid grin, mimicking the Dutchman, “ dare is no dood hope 
for dem, old boy ; dey are drowned and d .... d, as you and 
T will be, Red Max, one of dese dark nights.” 

“ No, no,” said Blunt, “ all sailors are saved ; they have 
plenty of squalls here below, but fair weather aloft.” 

“ And did you get that out of your silly Dream Book, you 
Greek?” howled Jackson through a cough. “ Don’t talk of 
heaven to me — ^it’s a lie — I know it — and they are all fools 
that believe in it. Do you think, you Greek, that there’s 
any heaven for ‘^ou ? Will they let you in there, with that 
tarry hand, and that oily head of hair ? Avast ! when some 
shark gulps you down his hatchway one of these days, you’ll 
find, that by dying, you’ll only go from one gale of wind to 
another ; mind that, you Irish cockney ! Yes, you’ll be bolted 
down like one of your own pills : and I should like to see 
the whole ship swallowed down in the Norway maelstrom, 
like a box on ’em. That would be a dose of salts for ye !” 
^nd so saying, he went off, holding his hands to his chest, 
and coughing, as if his last hour was come. 


136 


R E D B U R N ; 


Every day this Jackson seemed to grow worse and worse, 
both in body and mind. He seldom spoke, but to contra- 
dict, deride, or curse ; and all the time, though his face grew 
thinner and thinner, his eyes seemed to kindle more and more, 
as if he were going to die out at last, and leave them burn- 
ing like tapers before a corpse. 

Though he had never attended churches, and knew nothing 
about Christianity ; no more than a Malay pirate ; and though 
he could not read a word, yet he was spontaneously an atheist 
and an infidel ; and during the long night watches, would 
enter into arguments, to prove that there was nothing to be 
believed ; nothing to be loved, and nothing worth living for ; 
but every thing to be hated, in the wide world. He was a 
horrid desperado ; and like a wild Indian, whom he resembled 
in his tawny skin and high cheek bones, he seemed to run 
a muck at heaven and earth. He was a Cain afloat ; 
branded on his yellow brow with some inscrutable curse ; 
and going about corrupting and searing every heart that 
beat near him. 

But there seemed even more woe than wickedness about 
the man ; and his wickedness seemed to spring from his 
woe ; and for all his hideousness, there was that in his eye 
at times, that was ineffably pitiable and touching ; and 
though there were moments when I almost hated this Jack- 
son, yet I have pitied no man as I have pitied him. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


AN UNACCOUNTABLE CABIN-PASSENGER, AND A MYSTERIOUS 
YOUNG LADY. 

As yet, I have said nothing special about the passengers 
we carried out. But before making what little mention I 
shall of them, you must know that the Highlander was not 
a Liverpool liner, or packet-ship, plying in connection with 
a sisterhood of packets, at stated intervals, between the two 
ports. No : she was only what is called a regular trader 
to Liverpool ; sailing upon no fixed days, and acting very 
much as she pleased, being bound by no obligations of any 
kind : though in all her voyages, ever having New York or 
Liverpool for her destination. Merchant vessels which are 
neither liners nor regular traders, among sailors come under the 
general head of transient ships; which implies that they are 
here to-day, and somewhere else to-morrow, like Mullins’s dog. 

But I had no reason to regret that the Highlander was 
not a liner ; for aboard of those liners, from all I could gather 
from those who had sailed in them, the crew have terrible hard 
work, owing to their carrying such a press of sail, in order 
to make as rapid passages as possible, and sustain the ship’s 
reputation for speed. Hence it is, that although they are 
the very best of sea-going craft, and built in the best possible 
manner, and with the very best materials, yet, a few years 
of scudding before the wind, as they do, seriously impairs 
their constitutions — like robust young men, who live too fast 
in their teens — and they are soon sold out for a song ; gen- 
erally to the people of Nantucket, New Bedford, and Sag 
Harbor, who repair and fit them out for the whaling business. 

Thus, the ship that once carried over gay parties of ladies 


138 


RE DBURN: 


and gentlemen, as tourists, to Liverpool or London, now 
carries a crew of harpooneers round Cape Horn into the 
Pacific. And the mahogany and hird’s-eye maple cabin, 
which once held rosewood card-tables and brilliant cofiee- 
urns, and in which many a bottle of champagne, and many 
a bright eye sparkled, now accommodates a bluff Quaker 
captain from Martha’s Vineyard ; who, perhaps, while ly- 
ing with his ship in the Bay of Islands, in New Zealand, 
entertains a party of naked chiefs and savages at dinner, in 
place of the packet- captain doing the honors to the literati, 
theatrical stars, foreign princes, and gentlemen of leisure and 
fortune, who generally talked gossip, politics, and nonsense 
across the table, in transatlantic trips. The broad quarter- 
deck, too, where these gentry promenaded, is now often choked 
up by the enormous head of the sperm-whale, and vast masses 
of unctuous blubber ; and every where reeks with oil during 
the prosecution of the fishery. Sic transit gloria mundi I 
Thus departs the pride and glory of packet-ships ! It is like 
a broken down importer of French silks embarking in the 
soap-boiling business. 

So, not being a liner, the Highlander of course did not 
have very ample accommodations for cabin passengers. I 
believe there were not more than five or six state-rooms, 
with two or three berths in each. At any rate, on this 
particular voyage she only carried out one regular cabin- 
passenger ; that is, a person previously unacquainted with 
the captain, who paid his fare down, and came on board 
soberly, and in a business-like manner with his baggage. 

He was an extremely little man, that solitary cabin- 
passenger — ^the passenger who came on board in a business- 
like manner with his baggage ; never spoke to any one, and 
the captain seldom spoke to him. 

Perhaps he was a deputy from the Deaf and Dumb 
Institution in New York, going over to London to address 
the public in pantomime at Exeter Hall concerning the 
signs of the times. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


139 


He was always in a brown study ; sometimes sitting on 
the quarter-deck with arms folded, and head hanging upon 
his chest. Then he would rise, and gaze out to windward, 
as if he had suddenly discovered a friend. But looking dis- 
appointed, would retire slowly into his state-room, where you 
could see him through the little window, in an irregular 
sitting position, with the back part of him inserted into his 
berth, and his head, arms, and legs hanging out, buried in 
profound meditation, with his forefinger aside of his nose. 
He never was seen reading ; never took a hand at cards ; 
never smoked ; never drank wine ; never conversed ; and 
never staid to the dessert at dinner-time. 

He seemed the true microcosm, or little world to himself: 
standing in no need of levying contributions upon the sur- 
rounding universe. Conjecture was lost in speculating as 
to who he was, and what was his business. The sailors, 
who are always curious with regard to such matters, and 
criticise cabin-passengers more than cabin-passengers are per- 
haps aware at the time, completely exhausted themselves in 
suppositions, some of which were characteristically curious. 

One of the crew said he was a mysterious bearer of secret 
dispatches to the English court ; others opined that he was 
a traveling surgeon and bonesetter, but for what reason they 
thought so, I never could learn ; and others declared that 
he must either be an unprincipled bigamist, flying from his 
last wife and several small children ; or a scoundrelly forger, 
bank-robber, or general burglar, who was returning to his 
beloved country with his ill-gotten booty. One observing 
sailor was of opinion that he was an English murderer, 
overwhelmed with speechless remorse, and returning home 
to make a full confession and be hanged. 

But it was a little singular, that among all their sage and 
sometimes confident opinings, not one charitable one was 
made ; no ! they were all sadly to the prejudice of his moral 
and religious character. But this is the way all the world 
over. Miserable man ! could you have had an inkling of 


140 


RE DBURN: 


what they thought of you, I know not what you would have 
done. 

However, not knowing any thing about these surmisings 
and suspicions, this mysterious cabin-passenger went on his 
way, calm, cool, and collected ; never troubled any body, and 
nobody troubled him. Sometimes, of a moonlight night, he 
glided about the deck, like the ghost of a hospital attendant ; 
flitting from mast to mast ; now hovering round the skylight, 
now vibrating in the vicinity of the binnacle. Blunt, the 
Dream Book tar, swore he was a magician ; and took an 
extra dose of salts, by way of precaution against his spells. 

When we were but a few days from port, a comical 
adventure befell this cabin-passenger. There is an old cus- 
tom, still in vogue among some merchant sailors, of tying 
fast in the rigging any lubberly landsman of a passenger 
who may be detected taking excursions aloft, however mod- 
erate the flight of the awkward fowl. This is called “ mak- 
ing a spread eagle'" of the man ; and before he is liberated, 
a promise is exacted, that before arriving in port, he shall 
furnish the ship’s company with money enough for a treat 
all round. 

Now this being one of the perquisites of sailors, they are 
always on the keen look-out for an opportunity of levying 
such contributions upon incautious strangers ; though they 
never attempt it in presence of the captain ; as for the mates, 
they purposely avert their eyes, and are earnestly engaged 
about something else, whenever they get an inkling of this 
proceeding going on. But, with only one poor fellow of a 
cabin-passenger on board of the Highlander, and he such a 
quiet, unobtrusive, unadventurous wight, there seemed little 
chance for levying contributions. 

One remarkably pleasant morning, however, what should 
be seen, half way up the mizzen rigging, but the figure of 
our cabin-passenger, holding on with might and main by all 
four limbs, and with his head fearfully turned round, gazing* 
off* to the horizon. He looked as if he had the nightmare ; 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


141 


and in some sudden and unaccountable fit of insanity, he 
must have been impelled to the taking up of that perilous 
position. 

“ Good heavens !” said the mate, who was a bit of a 
wag, “you will surely fall, sir! Steward, spread a mattress 
on deck, under the gentleman !” 

But no sooner was our Greenland sailor’s attention called 
to the sight, than snatching up some rope-yarn, he ran softly 
up behind the passenger, and without speaking a word, began 
binding him hand and foot. The stranger was more dumb 
than ever with amazement ; at last violently remonstrated ; 
but in vain ; for as his fearfulness of falling made him keep 
his hands glued to the ropes, and so prevented him from any 
effectual resistance, he was soon made a handsome spread- 
eagle of, to the great satisfaction of the crew. 

It was now discovered for the first, that this singular 
passenger stammered and stuttered very badly, which, per- 
haps, was the cause of his reservedness. 

“ Wha-wha-what i-i-is this f-f-for ?” 

“ Spread-eagle, sir,” said the Greenlander, thinking that 
those few words would at once make the matter plain. 

“ Wha-wha-what that me-me-mean ?” 

“ Treats all round, sir,” said the Greenlander, wondering 
at the other’s obtusity, who, however, had never so much as 
heard of the thing before. 

At last, upon his reluctant acquiescence in the demands 
of the sailor, and handing him two half-crown pieces, the 
unfortunate passenger was suffered to descend. 

The last I ever saw of this man was his getting into a 
cab at Prince’s Dock Gates in Liveipool, and driving off 
alone to parts unknown. He had nothing but a valise with 
him, and an umbrella ; but his pockets looked stuffed out ; 
perhaps he used them for carpet-bags. 

I must now give some account of another and still more 
mysterious, though very different, sort of an occupant of the 
cabin, of whom I have previously hinted. What say you 


142 


R E D B U R N : 


to a charming young girl ? — just the girl to sing the Dash- 
ing White Sergeant ; a martial, military-looking girl ; her 
father must have been a general. Her hair was auburn ; 
her eyes were blue ; her cheeks were white and red ; and 
Captain Riga was her most devoted. 

To the curious questions of the sailors concerning who 
she was, the steward used to answer, that she was the 
daughter of one of the Liverpool dock-masters, who, for the 
benefit of her health and the improvement of her mind, had 
sent her out to America in the Highlander, under the cap- 
tain’s charge, who was his particular friend ; and that now 
the young lady was returning home from her tour. 

And truly the captain proved an attentive father to her, 
and often promenaded with her hanging on his arm, past the 
forlorn bearer of secret dispatches, who would look up now 
and then out of his reveries, and cast a furtive glance of 
wonder, as if he thought the captain was audacious^ 

Considering his beautiful ward, I thought the captain be- 
haved ungallantly, to say the least, in availing himself of the 
opportunity of her charming society, to wear out his remain- 
ing old clothes ; for no gentleman ever pretends to save his 
best coat when a lady is in the case ; indeed, he generally 
thirsts for a chance to abase it, by converting it into a 
pontoon over a puddle, like Sir Walter Raleigh, that the 
ladies may not soil the soles of their dainty slippers. But 
this Captain Riga was no Raleigh, and hardly any sort of 
a true gentleman whatever, as I have formerly declared. 
Yet, perhaps, he might have worn his old clothes in this in- 
stance, for the express purpose of proving, by his disdain for 
the toilet, that he was nothing but the young lady’s guardian ; 
for many guardians do not care one fig how shabby they 
look. 

But for all this, the passage out was one long paternal 
sort of a shabby flirtation between this hoydenish nymph and 
the ill-dressed captain. And surely, if her good mother, 
were she living, could have seen this young lady, she would 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


141 


have given her an endless lecture for her conduct, and a 
copy of Mrs. Ellis’s Daughters of England to read and 
digest. 

I shall say no more of this anonymous nymph ; only, that 
when we arrived at Liverpool, she issued from her cabin in 
a richly embroidered silk dress, and lace hat and vail, and 
a sort of Chinese umbrella or parasol, which one of the sailors 
declared “ spandangalous and the captain followed after 
in his best broadcloth and beaver, with a gold-headed cane ; 
and away they went in a carriage, ai^d tha,i was the last 
of her ; I hope she is well and happy now ; but I have some 
misgivings. 

It now remains to speak of the steerage passengers. There 
were not more than twenty or thirty of them, mostly me- 
chanics, returning home, after a prosperous stay in America, 
to escort their wives and families back. These were the 
only occupants of the steerage that I ever knew of ; till 
early one morning, in the gray dawn, when we made Cape 
Clear, the south point of Ireland, the apparition of a tall 
Irishman, in a shabby shirt of bed-ticking, emerged from 
the fore hatchway, and stood leaning on the rail, looking 
landward with a fixed, reminiscent expression, and diligently 
scratching its back with both hands. We all started at the 
sight, for no one had ever seen the apparition before ; and 
when we remembered that it must have been burrowing all 
the passage down in its bunk, the only probable reason of its 
so manipulating its back became shockingly obvious. 

I had almost forgotten another passenger of ours, a little 
boy not four feet high, an English lad, who, when we were 
about forty-eight hours from New York, suddenly appeared 
on deck, asking for something to eat. 

It seems he was the son of a carpenter, a widower, with 
this only child, who had gone out to America in the High- 
lander some six months previous, where he fell to drinking, 
and soon died, leaving the boy a friendless orphan m a 
foreign land. 


144 


R E D B U R N ; 


For several weeks the boy wandered about the wharves, 
picking up a precarious livelihood by sucking molasses out 
of the casks discharged from West India ships, and occasion- 
ally regaling himself upon stray oranges and lemons found 
floating in the docks. He passed his nights sometimes in a 
stall in the markets, sometimes in an empty hogshead on 
the piers, sometimes in a doorway, and once in the watch- 
house, from which he escaped the next morning, running, as 
he told me, right between the door-keeper’s legs, when he 
was taking another vagrant to task for repeatedly throwing 
himself upon the public charities. 

At last, while straying along the docks, he chanced to 
catch sight of the Highlander, and immediately recognized 
her as the very ship which brought him and his father out 
from England. He at once resolved to return in her ; and, 
accosting the captain, stated his case, and begged a passage. 
The captain refused to give it ; but, nothing daunted, the 
heroic little fellow resolved to conceal himself on board pre- 
vious to the ship’s sailing ; which he did, stowing himself 
away in the hetween-dechs ; and moreover, as he told us, in 
a narrow space between two large casks of water, from 
which he now and then thrust out his head for air. And 
once a steerage passenger rose in the night and poked in 
and rattled about a stick where he was, thinking him an 
uncommon large rat, who was after stealing a passage 
across the Atlantic. There are plenty of passengers of 
that kind continually plying between Liverpool and New 
York. 

As soon as he divulged the fact of his being on board, 
which he took care should not happen till he thought the 
ship must be out of sight of land ; the captain had him 
called aft, and after giving him a thorough shaking, and 
threatening to toss him overboard as a tit-bit for John 
Shark, he told the mate to send him forward among the 
sailors, and let him live there. The sailors received him with 
open arms ; but before caressing him much, they gave him 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


145 


a thorough washing in the lee-scuppers, when he turned out 
to be quite a handsome lad, though thin and pale with the 
hardships he had suffered. However, by good nursing and 
plenty to eat, he soon improved and grew fat ; and before 
many days was as fine a looking little fellow, as you might 
pick out of Queen Victoria’s nursery. 

The sailors took the warmest interest in him. One 
made him a little hat with a long ribbon ; another a little 
jacket ; a third a comical little pair of man-of-war’s-man’s 
trov/sers ; so that in the end, he looked like a juvenile boat- 
swain’s-mate. Then the cook furnished him with a little 
tin pot and pan ; and the steward made him a present of a 
pewter tea-spoon ; and a steerage passenger gave him a jack- 
knife. And thus provided, he used to sit at meal times half 
way up on the forecastle ladder, making a great racket with 
his pot and pan, and merry as a cricket. He was an un- 
commonly fine, cheerful, clever, arch little fellow, only six 
years old, and it was a thousand pities that he should be 
abandoned, as he was. Who can say, whether he is fated 
to be a convict in New South Wales, or a member of Par- 
liament for Liverpool ? When we got to that port, by the 
way, a purse was made up for him ; the captain, officers, 
and the mysterious cabin passenger contributing their best 
wishes, and the sailors and poor steerage passengers some- 
thing like fifteen dollars in cash and tobacco. But I had 
almost forgot to add that the daughter of the dock-master 
gave him a fine lace pocket-handkerchief and a card-case to 
remember her by ; very valuable, but somewhat inappropri- 
ate presents. Thus supplied, the little hero w^nt ashore by 
himself ; and I lost sight of him in the vast crowds throng 
ing the docks of Liverpool. 

I must here mention, as some relief to the impression 
'which Jackson’s character must have made upon the reader, 
that in several ways he at first befriended this boy ; but the 
boy always shrunk from him ; till, at last, stung by his 
conduct, Jackson spoke to him no more ; and seemed to 

G 


146 


REDBURN: 


hate him, harmless as he was, along with all the rest of 
the world. 

As for the Lancashire lad, he was a stupid sort of fellow, 
as I have before hinted. So, little interest was taken in 
him, that he was permitted to go ashore at last, without a 
good-by from any person hut one. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


HE BEGINS TO HOP ABOUT IN THE RIGGING LIKE A SAINT 
JAGO’S MONKEY. 

But we have not got to Liverpool yet ; though, as there 
is little more to be said concerning the passage out, the 
Highlander may as well make sail and get there as soon as 
possible. The brief interval will perhaps he profitably em- 
ployed in relating what progress I made in learning the 
duties of a sailor. 

After my heroic feat in loosing the main-skysail, the mate 
entertained good hopes of my becoming a rare mariner. In 
the fullness of his heart, he ordered me to turn over the 
superintendence of the chicken-coop to the Lancashire boy ; 
which I did, very willingly. After that, I took care to 
show the utmost alacrity in running aloft, which by this 
time became mere fun for me ; and nothing delighted me 
more than to sit on one of the topsail-yards, for hours to- 
gether, helping Max or the Greenlander as they worked at 
the rigging. 

At sea, the sailors are continually engaged in ^^parcel- 
ling,''’ “ serving," and in a thousand ways ornamenting and 
repairing the numberless shrouds and stays ; mending sails, 
or turning one side of the deck into a rope- walk, where they 
manufacture a clumsy sort of twine, called spun-yarn. 
This is spun with a winch ; and many an hour the Lanca- 
shire boy had to play the part of an engine, and contribute 
the motive power. For material, they use odds and ends 
of old rigging called ^^junk," the yarns of which are picked 
to pieces, and then twisted into new combinations, something 
as most books are manufactured. 


148 


REDBURN: 


This “junk’* is bought at the junk shops along the 
wharves; outlandish looking dens, generally subterranean, 
full of old iron, old shrouds, spars, rusty blocks, and super- 
annuated tackles ; and kept by villainous looking old men, in 
tarred trowsers, and with yellow beards like oakum. They 
look like wreckers ; and the scattered goods they expose for 
sale, involuntarily remind one of the sea-beach, covered with 
keels and cordage, swept ashore in a gale. 

Yes, I was now as nimble as a monkey in the rigging, 
and at the cry tumble up there, my heartier, arid take 
in miir I was among the first ground-and-lofty tumblers, 
that sprang aloft at the word. 

But the first time we reefed top-sails of a dark night, and 
I found myself hanging over the yard with eleven others, 
the ship plunging and rearing like a mad horse, till I felt 
like being jerked off* the spar ; then, indeed, I thought of a 
feather-bed at home, and hung on with tooth and nail ; with 
no chance for snoring. But a few repetitions, soon made 
me used to it ; and before long, I tied my reef-point as 
quickly and expertly as the best of them ; never making 
what they call a granny-knot^^ and slipt down on deck 
by the bare stays, instead of the shrouds. It is surprising, 
how soon a boy overcomes his timidity about going aloft. 
For my own part, my nerves became as steady as the earth’s 
diameter, and I felt as fearless on the royal yard, as Sam 
Patch on the cliff* of Niagara. To my amazement, also, I 
found, that running up the rigging at sea, especially during 
a squall, was much easier than while lying in port. For as 
you always go up on the windward side, and the ship leans 
over, it makes more of a stairs, of the rigging ; whereas, in 
harbor, it is almost straight up and down. 

Besides, the pitching and rolling only imparts a pleasant 
sort of vitality to the vessel ; so that the difference in being 
aloft ill a ship at sea, and a ship in harbor, is pretty much 
the same, as riding a real live horse and a wooden one. 
And even if the live charger should pilch you over his head. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


149 


that would be much more satisfactory, than an inglorious 
fall from the other. 

I took great delight in furling the top-gallant sails and 
royals in a hard blow ; which duty required two hands on 
the yard. 

There was a wild delirium about it; a fine rushing of 
the blood about the heart; and a glad, thrilling, and throb- 
bing of the whole system, to find yourself tossed up at every 
pitch into the clouds of a stormy sky, and hovering like a 
judgment angel between heaven and earth ; both hands free, 
with one foot in the rigging, and one somewhere behind you 
in the air. The sail would fill out like a balloon, with a 
report like a small cannon, and then collapse and sink away 
into a handful. And the feeling of mastering the rebellious 
canvas, and tying it down like a slave to the spar, and 
binding it over and over with the ^askety had a touch of 
pride and power in it, such as young King Richard must 
have felt, when he trampled down the insurgents of Wat 
Tyler. 

As for steering, they never would let me go to the helm, 
except during a calm, when I and the figure-head on the 
bow were about equally employed. 

By the way, that figure-head was a passenger I forgot to 
make mention of before. 

He was a gallant six-footer of a Highlander full figf 
with bright tartans, bare knees, barred leggings, and blue 
bonnet and the most vermilion of cheeks. He was game to 
his wooden marrow, and stood up to it through thick and 
thin ; one foot a little advanced, and his right arm stretched 
forward, daring on the waves. In a gale of wind it was 
glorious to watch him standing at his post like a hero, and 
plunging up and down the watery Highlands and Lowlands, 
as the ship went foaming on her way. He was a veteran 
with many wounds of many sea-fights ; and when he got to 
Liverpool a figure-head-builder there, amputated his left leg, 
and gave him another wooden one. which I am sorry to say, 


150 


RBDBURN: 


did not fit him very well, for ever after he looked as if he 
limped. Then this figure-head-surgeon gave him another 
nose, and touched up one eye, and repaired a rent in his 
tartans. After that the painter came and made his toilet 
all over again ; giving him a new suit throughout, with a 
plaid of a beautiful pattern. 

I do not know what has become of Donald now, but I 
hope he is safe and snug with a handsome pension in the 
“ Sailors’-Snug-Harbor” on Staten Island. 

The reason why they gave me such a slender chance of 
learning to steer was this. I was quite young and raw, and 
steering a ship is a great art, upon which much depends ; 
especially the making a short passage ; for if the helmsman 
be a clumsy, careless fellow, or ignorant of his duty, he keeps 
the ship going about in a melancholy state of indecision as to 
its precise destination ; so that on a voyage to Liverpool, it 
may be pointing one while for Gibralter, then for Rotterdam, 
and now for John o’ Groat’s ; all of which is worse than 
wasted time. Whereas, a true steersman keeps her to her 
work night and day ; and tries to make a bee-line from port 
to port. 

Then, in a sudden squall, inattention, or want of quickness 
at the helm, might make the ship “ lurch to " — or “ hring 
her by the lee" And what those things are, the cabin pas- 
sengers would never find out, when they found themselves 
going down, down, down, and bidding good-by forever to the 
moon and stars. 

And they little think, many of them, fine gentlemen and 
ladies that they are, what an important personage, and how 
much to be had in reverence, is the rough fellow in the pea- 
jacket, whom they see standing at the wheel, now cocking 
his eye aloft, and then peeping at the compass, or looking 
out to windward. 

Why, that fellow has all your lives and eternities in his 
hand ; and with one small and almost imperceptible motion 
of a spoke, in a gale of wind, might give a vast deal of work 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


151 


to surrogates and lawyers, in proving last wills and testa- 
ments. 

Ay, you may well stare at him now. He does not look 
much like a man who might play into the hands of an heir- 
at-law, does he? Yet such is the case. Watch him close, 
therefore ; take him down into your state-room occasionally 
after a stormy watch, and make a friend of him. A glass 
of cordial will do it. 

And^ if you or your heirs are interested with the under- 
writers, then also have an eye on him. And if you remark, 
that of the crew, all the men who come to the helm are 
careless, or inefficient ; and if you observe the captain scold- 
ing them often, and crying out : “ Luff^ you rascal ; she's 
falling off!" or, “ Keep her steady y you scoundrel, you're 
boxing the compass !" then hurry down to your state-room, 
and if you have not yet made a will, get out your stationery 
and go at it ; and when it is done, seal it up in a bottle, 
like Columbus’ log, and it may possibly drift ashore, when 
you are drowned in the next gale of T;^nd. 


CHAPTER XXV. 

QUARTER-DECK FURNITUER. 

Though, for reasons hinted at above, they would not let 
me steer, I contented myself with learning the compass, a 
graphic fac-simile of which I drew on a blank leaf of the 
“ Wealth of Nations f and studied it every morning, like 
the multiplication table. 

I liked to peep in at the binnacle, and watch the needle ; 
and I wondered how it was that it pointed north, rather 
than south or west ; for I do not know that any reason 
can be given why it points in the precise direction it 
does. One would think, too, that, as since the beginning 
of the world almost,%the tide of emigration has been setting 
west, the needle would point that way ; whereas, it is forever 
pointing its fixed fore-finger toward the Pole, where there 
are few inducements to attract a sailor, unless it be plenty 
of ice for mint-juleps. 

Our binnacle, by the way, the place that holds a ship’s 
compasses, deserves a word of mention. It was a little house, 
about the bigness of a common bird-cage, with sliding panel 
doors, and two drawing-rooms within, and constantly perched 
upon a stand, right in front of the helm. It had two chim- 
ney stacks to carry off the smoke of the lamp that burned 
in it by night. It was painted green, and on two sides had 
Venetian blinds ; and on one side two glazed sashes ; so that 
it looked like a cool little summer retreat, a snug bit of an 
arbor at the end of a shady garden lane. Had I been the 
captain, I would have planted vines in boxes, and placed 
them so as to overrun this binnacle ; or I would have put 
canary-birds within ; and so made an aviary of it. It is 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


153 


surprising what a different air may be imparted to the 
meanest thing by the dainty hand of taste. 

Nor must I omit the helm itself, which was one of a new 
construction, and a particular favorite of the captain. It 
was a complex system of cogs and wheels and spindles, all 
of polished brass, and looked something like a printing-press, 
or power-loom. The sailors, however, did not like it much, 
owing to the casualties that happened to their imprudent 
fingers, by catching in among the cogs and other intricate 
contrivances. Then, sometimes in a calm, when the sudden 
swells would lift the ship, the helm would fetch a lurch, and 
send the helmsman revolving round like Ixion, often seriously 
hurting him ; a sort of breaking on the wheel. 

The harness-cask^ also, a sort of sea side-hoard, or rather 
meat-safe, in which a week’s allowance of salt pork and 
beef is kept, deserves being chronicled. It formed part of 
the standing furniture of the quarter-deck. Of an oval 
shape, it was banded round with hoops all silver-gilt, with 
gilded bands secured with gilded screws, and a gilded pad- 
lock, richly chased. This formed the captain’s smoking- 
seat, where he would perch himself of an afternoon, a tas- 
seled Chinese cap upon his head, and a fragrant Havanna 
between his white and canine-looking teeth. He took much 
solid comfort. Captain Riga. 

Then the magnificent capsta7i I The pride and glory of 
the whole ship’s company, the constant care and dandled 
darling of the cook, whose duty it was to keep it polished 
like a tea-pot ; and it was an object of distant admiration to 
the steerage passengers. Like a parlor center-table, it stood 
full in the middle of the quarter-deck, radiant with brazen 
stars, and variegated with diamond-shaped veneerings of 
mahogany and satin wood. This was the captain’s lounge, 
and the chief mate’s secretary, in the bar-holes keeping 
paper and pencil for memorandums. 

I might proceed and speak of the boohy-hatch, used as a 
sort 0 settee by the officers, and the ffe-rail round the 

G* 


154 


R E D B U R N ; 


mainmast, inclosing a little park of canvas, painted green, 
where a small white dog with a blue ribbon round his neck, 
belonging to the dock-master’s daughter, used to take his 
morning walks, and air himself in this small edition of the 
New York Bowling-Green. 


CHAPTER XXVI. 


j ■■ 


A SAILOR A JACK OP ALL TRADES. 

As I began to learn my sailor duties, and show activity 
in running aloft, the men, I observed, treated me with a 
little more consideration, though not at all relaxing in a cer- 
tain air of professional superiority. For the mere knowing 
of the names of the ropes, and familiarizing yourself with 
their places, so that you can lay hold of them in the darkest 
night ; and the loosing and furling of the canvas, and reef- 
ing topsails, and hauling braces ; all this, though of course 
forming an indispensable part of a seaman’s vocation, and 
the business in which he is principally engaged ; yet these 
are things which a beginner of ordinary capacity soon mas- 
'iers, and which are far inferior to many other matters 
familiar to an able seaman^^ 

What did I know, for instance, about striking a top- 
gallant-mast, and ,sending it down on deck in a gale of 
wind ? Could I have turned in a dead-eye, or in the 
approved nautical style have clapt a seizing on the main- 
stay! What did I know of passing a gammoning!' 

reiving a Burton!' strapping a shoe-block!' clearing 
a foul hawse!' and innumerable other intricacies ? 

The business of a thorough-bred sailor is a special call- 
ing, as much of a regular trade as a carpenter’s or lock- 
smith’s. Indeed, it requires considerably more adroitness, 
and far more versatility of talent. 

In the English merchant service boys serve a long ap- 
prenticeship to the sea, of seven years. Most of them first 
enter the Newcastle colliers, where they see a great deal of 
severe coasting service. In an old copy of the Letters of 
.Tunius, belonging to my father, I remember reading, that 


I5G 


RE D B U RN: 


coal to supply the city of London could be dug at Black- 
heath, and sold for one half the price that the people of 
London then paid for it ; but the Government would not 
suffer the mines to be opened, as it would destroy the great 
nursery for British seamen. 

A thorough sailor must understand much of other avo- 
cations. He must be a bit of an embroiderer, to work 
fanciful collars of hempen lace about the shrouds ; he must 
be something of a weaver, to weave mats of rope-yarns for 
lashings to the boats ; he must have a touch of millinery, so 
as to tie graceful bows and knots, such as Matthew Walker's 
roses, and Turk's heads ; he must be a bit of a musician, 
ill order to sing out at the halyards ; he must be a sort of 
jeweler, to set dead-eyes in the standing rigging ; he must 
lie a carpenter, to enable him to make a jury-mast out of 
a yard in case of emergency ; he must be a sempstress, to 
darn and^mend the sails; a ropeniaker, to twist onarline 
and Spanish foxes ; a blacksmith, to make hooks and thim- 
bles for the blocks : in short, he must be a sort of Jack of 
all trades, in order to master his own. And this, perhaps, 
ill a greater or less degree, is pretty much the case with all 
things else ; for you know nothing till you know all ; w'hich 
is the reason we never know any thing. 

A sailor, also, in working at the rigging, uses special tools 
peculiar to his calling — -fids, serving-mallets, toggles, prick- 
ers, marlingspikes, pahm, heavers, and many more. The 
smaller sort he generally .carrier with him from ship to ship 
in a sort of canvas reticule. 

The estimation in which a ship^s crew hold the knowledge 
of such accomplishments as these, is expjressed in the phrase 
they apply to one who is a clever practit^jaer. To distin- 
guish such a mariner from those who merely “ ha7id, reef, 
and steer f that is, run aloft, furl sails, haul ropes, and 
stand at the wheel; they say he is “ a sailor -mxbn which 
means that he i)Ot only knows how to reef a topsail, but is 
an artist in the rigging. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


157 


Now, alas ! I had no chance given me to become initiated 
in this art and mystery ; no further, at least, than by looking 
on, and watching how that these things might he done as 
well as others. The reason was, that I had only shipped 
for this one voyage in the Highlander, a short voyage too ; 
and it was not worth while to teach me any thing, the fruit 
of which instructions could he only reaped by the next ship 
I might belong to. All they wanted of me was the good- 
will of my muscles, and the use of my backbone — compara- 
tively small though it was at that time — ^by way of a lever, 
for the above-mentioned artists to employ when wanted. 
Accordingly, when any embroidery was going on in the rig- 
ging, I was set to the most inglorious avocations ; as in the 
merchant service it is a religious maxim to keep the hands 
always employed at something or other, never mind what, 
during their watch on deck. 

Often furnished with a club-hammer, they swung me over 
the bows in a bowline, to pound the rust off the anchor : a 
most monotonous, and to me a most uncongenial and irksome 
business. There was a remarkable fatality attending the 
various hammers I carried over with me. Somehow they 
would drop out of my hands into the sea. But the supply 
of reserved hammers seemed unhmited : also the blessings 
and benedictions I received from the chief mate for my 
clumsiness. 

At other times, they set me to picking oakum, like a con- 
vict, which hempen business disagreeably obtruded thoughts 
of halters and the gallows ; or whittling belaying-pins, like 
a Dov^n-E aster. 

However, I endeavored to bear it all like a young philos- 
opher, and whiled away the tedious hours by gazing through 
a port-hole while my hands were plying, and repeating Lord 
Byron’s Address to the Ocean, which I had often spouted on 
the stage at the High School at home. 

Yes, I got used to all these matters, and took most things 
coolly, in the spirit of Seneca and the stoics. 


158 


REDBURN: 


All but the •■^turning out,'' or rising from your berth 
when the watch was called at night — that I nev^r fancied. 
It was a sort of acquaintance, which the more I cultivated, 
the more I shrunk from ; a thankless, miserable business, 
truly. 

Consider that after walking the deck for four full hours, 
you go below to sleep : and while thus innocently employed 
in reposing your wearied limbs, you are started up — it seems 
but the next instant after closing your lids — and hurried on 
deck again, into the same disagreeably dark and, perhaps, 
stormy night, from which you descended into the forecastle. 

The previous interval of slumber was almost whoUy lost 
to me ; at least the golden opportunity could not be appre- 
ciated : for though it is usually deemed a comfortable thing 
to be asleep, yet at the time no one is conscious that he 
is so enjoying himself. Therefore I made a little private 
arrangement with the Lancashire lad, who was in the other 
watch, just to step below occasionally, and shake me, and 
whisper in my ear — Watch below, Buttons; watch below" 
— ^which pleasantly reminded me of the delightful fact. 
Then I would turn over on my side, and take another nap ; 
and in this manner I enjoyed several complete watches in 
my bunk to the other sailors’ one. I recommend the plan 
to all landsmen contemplating a voyage to sea. 

But notwithstanding all these contrivances, the dreadful 
sequel could not be avoided. Eight bells would at last be 
struck, and the men on deck, exhilarated by the prospect of 
changing places with us, would call the watch in a most 
provokingly mirthful and facetious style. 

As thus : — 

“ Starboard watch, ahoy ! eight bells there, below ! Tum- 
ble up, my lively hearties ; steamboat alongside waiting for 
your trunks : bear a hand, bear a hand with your knee- 
buckles, my sweet and pleasant fellows ! fine shower-bath 
here on deck. Hurrah, hurrah ! your ice-cream is getting 
cold !” 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


159 


Whereupon some of the old croakers who were getting 
into their trowsers would reply with — “ Oh, stop your gabble, 
will you ? don’t be in such a hurry, now. You feel sweet, 
don’t you ?” with other exclamations, some of which were 
full of fury. 

And it was not a little curious to remark, that at the 
expiration of the ensuing watch, the tables would be turned ; 
and we on deck became the wits and jokers, and those below 
the grizzly bears and growlers. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


HE GETS A PEEP AT IRELAND, AND AT LAST ARRIVES AT 
LIVERPOOL. 

The Highlander was not a grayhound, not a very fast 
sailer ; and so, the passage, which some of the packet ships 
make in fifteen or sixteen days, employed us about thirty. 

At last, one morning I came on deck, and they told me 
that Ireland was in sight. 

Ireland in sight ! A foreign country actually visible I I 
peered hard, but could see nothing hut a bluish, cloud-like 
spot to the northeast. Was that Ireland? Why, there 
was nothing remarkable about that ; nothing startling. If 
that's the way a foreign country looks, I might as well have 
staid at home. 

Now what, exactly, I had fancied the shore would look 
like, I can not say ; but I had a vague idea that it would 
be something strange and wonderful. However, there it 
was ; and as the light increased and the ship sailed nearer 
and nearer, the land began to magnify, and I gazed at it 
with increasing interest. 

Ireland ! I thought of Robert Emmet, and that last speech 
of his before Lord Norbury ; I thought of Tommy Moore, 
and his amatory verses ; I thought of Curran, Grattan, Plun- 
ket, and O’Connell ; I thought of my uncle’s ostler, Patrick 
Flinnigan ; and I thought of the shipwreck of the gallant 
Albion, tost to pieces on the very shore now in sight ; and I 
thought I should very much hke to leave the ship and visit 
Dublin and the Giant’s Causeway. 

Presently a fishing-boat drew near, and I rushed to get a 
view of it ; but it was a very ordinary looking boat, bobbing 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


161 


up and down, as any other boat would have done ; yet, when 
I considered that the solitary man in it was actually a born 
native of the land in sight ; that in all probability he had 
never been in America, and knew nothing about my friends 
at home, I began to think that he looked somewhat 
strange. 

He was a very fluent fellow, and as soon as we were 
within hailing distance, cried out — “ Ah, my fine sailors, 
from Ameriky, ain’t ye, my beautiful sailors ?” And con- 
cluded by calling upon us to stop and heave a rope. Think- 
ing he might have something important to communicate, the 
mate accordingly backed the main yard, and a rope being 
thrown, the stranger kept hauling in upon it, and coiling it 
down, crying, “ pay out ! pay out, my honeys ; ah ! but 
you’re noble fellows !” Till at last the mate asked him why 
he did not come alongside, adding, “ Haven’t you enough 
rope yet ?” 

“ Sure and I have,” replied the fisherman, “ and it’s time 
for Pat to cut and run !” and so saying, his knife severed 
the rope, and with a Kilkenny grin, he sprang to his tiller, 
put his little craft before the wind, and bowled away from 
us, with some fifteen fathoms of our tow-line. 

“ And may the Old Boy hurry after you, and hang you 
in your stolen hemp, you Irish blackguard !” cried the mate, 
shaking his fist at the receding boat, after recovering from 
his first fit of amazement. 

Here, then, was a beautiful introduction to the eastern 
hemisphere ; fairly robbed before striking soundings. This 
trick upon experienced travelers certainly beat all I had ever 
heard about the wooden nutmegs and bass-wood pumpkin 
seeds of Connecticut. And I thought if there were any 
more Hibernians like our friend Pat, the Yankee peddlers 
might as well give it up. 

The next land we saw was Wales. It was high noon, 
and a long line of purple mountains lay like banks of clouds 
against the east. 


162 


REDBURN: 


Could this be really Wales? — Wales? — and I thought 
of the Prince of Wales. 

And did a real queen with a diadem reign over that very 
land I was looking at, with the identical eyes in my own 
head ? — And then I thought of a grandfather of mine, who 
had fought against the ancestor of this queen at Bunker’s Hill. 

But, after all, the general effect of these mountains was 
mortifyingly like the general effect of the Kaatskill Mount- 
ains on the Hudson River. 

With a light breeze, we sailed on till next day, when we 
made Holyhead and Anglesea. Then it fell almost calm, 
and what little wind we had, was ahead ; so we kept tack- 
ing to and fro, just gliding through the water, and always 
hovering in sight of a snow-white tower in the distance, 
which might have been a fort, or a light-house. I lost my- 
self in conjectures as to what sort of people might be tenant- 
ing that lonely edifice, and whether they knew any thing 
about us. 

The third day, with a good wind over the taffrail, we 
arrived so near our destination, that we took a pilot at dusk. 

He, and every thing connected with him were very 
different from our New York pilot. In the first place, the 
pilot boat that brought him was a plethoric looking sloop- 
rigged boat, with flat bows, that went wheezing through the 
water ; quite in contrast to the little gull of a schooner, that 
bade us adieu off* Sandy Hook. 

Aboard of her were ten or twelve other pilots, fellows 
with shaggy brows, and muffled in shaggy coats, who sat 
grouped together on deck like a fire-side of bears, wintering 
in Aroostook. They must have had fine sociable times, 
though, together ; cruising about the Irish Sea in quest of 
Liverpool-bound vessels ; smoking cigars, drinking brandy- 
and-water, and spinning yarns ; till at last, one by one, they 
are all scattered on board of different ships, and meet again 
by the side of a blazing sea-coal fire in some Liverpool tap- 
room, and prepare for another yachting. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


163 


Now, when this English pilot boarded us, I stared at him 
as if he had been some wild animal just escaped from the 
Zoological Gardens ; for here was a real live Englishman, 
just from England. Nevertheless, as he soon fell to order- 
ing us here and there, and swearing vociferously in a 
language quite familiar to me ; I began to think him very 
common-place, and considerable of a bore after all. 

After running till about midnight, we “ hove-td' near the 
mouth of the Mersey ; and next morning, before day -break, 
took the first of the flood ; and with a fair wind, stood into 
the river ; which, at its mouth, is quite an arm of the sea. 
Presently, in the misty twilight, we passed immense buoys, 
and caught sight of distant objects on shore, vague and 
shadowy shapes, like Ossian’s ghosts. 

As I stood leaning over the side, and trying to summon 
up some image of Liverpool, to see how the reality would 
answer to my conceit ; and while the fog, and mist, and 
gray dawn were investing every thing with a mysterious 
interest, I was startled by the doleful, dismal sound of a 
great bell, whose slow intermitting tolling seemed in unison 
with the solemn roll of the billows. I thought I had never 
heard so boding a sound ; a sound that seemed to speak of 
judgment and the resurrection, like belfry-mouthed Paul of 
Tarsus. 

It was not in the direction of the shore ; but seemed to 
come out of the vaults of the sea, and out of the mist and fog. 

Who was dead, and what could it be ? 

I soon learned from my ship-mates, that this was the 
famous Bell-Buoy, which is precisely what its name im- 
plies ; and tolls fast or slow, according to the agitation of 
the waves. In a calm, it is dumb ; in a moderate breeze, 
it tolls gently; but in a gale, it is an alarum like the 
tocsin, warning all mariners to flee. But it seemed fuller 
of dirges for the past, than of monitions for the future ; and 
no one can give ear to it, without thinking of the sailors 
who sleep far beneath it at the bottom of the deep. 


164 


RE DBURN: 


As we sailed ahead the river contracted. The day came, 
and soon, passing two lofty land-marks on the Lancashire 
shore, we rapidly drew near the town, and at last, came to 
anchor in the stream. 

Looking shoreward, I beheld lofty ranges of dingy ware- 
houses, which seemed very deficient in the elements of the 
marvelous ; and bore a most unexpected resemblance to the 
ware-houses along South-street in New York. There was 
nothing strange ; nothing extraordinary about them. There 
they stood ; a row of calm and collected ware-houses ; very 
good and substantial edifices, doubtless, and admirably adapted 
to the ends had in view by the builders ; but plain, matter- 
of-fact ware-houses, nevertheless, and that was all that could 
be said of them. 

To be sure, I did not expect that every house in Liverpool 
must be a Leaning Tower of Pisa, or a Strasbourg Cathe- 
dral ; but yet, these edifices I must confess, were a sad and 
bitter disappointment to me. 

But it was different with Larry the whaleman ; who to 
my surprise, looking about him delighted, exclaimed, “ Why, 
this ’ere is a considerable place — I’m dummed if it ain’t 
quite a place. — Why, them ’ere houses is considerable houses. 
It beats the coast of Afriky, all hollow ; nothing like this 
in Madagasky, I tell you ; — I’m dummed, boys, if Liver- 
pool ain’t a city !” 

Upon this occasion, indeed, Larry altogether forgot his 
hostility to civilization. Having been so long accustomed 
to associate foreign lands with the savage places of the In- 
dian Ocean, he had been under the impression, that Liver- 
pool must be a town of bamboos, situated in some swamp, 
and whose inhabitants turned their attention principally to 
the cultivation of log-wood and curing of flying-fish. For 
that any great commercial city existed three thousand miles 
from home, was a thing, of which Larry had never before 
had a realizing sense'' He was accordingly astonished 
and delighted ; and began to feel a sort of consideration for 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


165 


the country which could boast so extensive a town. In- 
stead of holding Queen Victoria on a par with the Queen 
of Madagascar, as he had been accustomed to do ; he ever 
after alluded to that lady with feeling and respect. 

As for the other seamen, the sight of a foreign country 
seemed to kindle no enthusiasm in them at all : no emotion 
in the least. They looked round them with great presence 
of mind, and acted precisely as you or I would, if, after a 
morning’s absence round the corner, we found ourselves re- 
turning home. Nearly all of them had made frequent voy- 
ages to Liverpool. 

Not long after anchoring, several boats came off; and 
from one of them stept a neatly -dressed and very respect- 
able-looking woman, some thirty years of age, I should 
think, carrying a bundle. Coming forward among the sail- 
ors, she inquired for Max the Dutchman, who immediately 
was forthcoming, and saluted her by the mellifluous appella- 
tion of Sally. 

Now during the passage. Max in discoursing to me of 
Liverpool, had often assured me, that that city had the 
honor of containing a spouse of his ; and that in all proba- 
bility, I would have the pleasure of seeing her. But hav- 
ing heard a good many stories about the bigamies of seamen, 
and their having wives and sweethearts in every port, the 
round world over ; and having been an eye-witness to a 
nuptial parting between this very Max and a lady in New 
York ; I put down this relation of his, for what I thought 
it might reasonably be worth. What was my astonish- 
ment, therefore, to see this really decent, civil woman com- 
ing with a neat parcel of Max’s shore clothes, all washed, plait- 
ed, and ironed, and ready to put on -at a moment’s warning. 

They stood apart a few moments giving loose to those 
transports of pleasure, which always take place, I suppose, 
between man and wife after long separations. 

At last, after many earnest inquiries as to how he had 
behaved himself in New York ; and concerning the state 


166 


REDBURN: 


of his wardrobe ; and going down into the forecastle, and 
inspecting it in person, Sally departed ; having exchanged 
her bundle of clean clothes for a bundle of soiled ones, and 
this was precisely what the New York wife had done for 
Max, not thirty days previous. 

So long as we laid in port, Sally visited the Highlander 
daily ; and approved herself a neat and expeditious getter- 
up of duck frocks and trowsers, a capital tailoress, and as 
far as I could see, a very well-behaved, discreet, and reput- 
able woman. 

But from all I had seen of her, I should suppose Meg, 
the New York wife, to have been equally well-behaved, dis- 
creet, and reputable ; and equally devoted to the keeping in 
good order Max’s wardrobe. 

And when we left England at last, Sally bade Max good- 
by, just as Meg had done ; and when we arrived at New 
York, Meg greeted Max precisely as Sally had greeted him 
in Liverpool. Indeed, a pair of more amiable wives never 
belonged to one man ; they never quarreled, or had so much 
as a difference of any kind ; the whole broad Atlantic being 
between them ; and Max was equally polite and civil to 
both. For many years, he had been going Liverpool and 
New York voyages, plying between wife and wife with 
great regularity, and sure of receiving a hearty domestic 
welcome on either side of the ocean. 

Thinking this conduct of his, however, altogether wrong 
and every way immoral, I once ventured to express to him 
my opinion on the subject. But I never did so again. He 
turned round on me, very savagely ; and after rating me 
soundly for meddling in concerns not my own, concluded by 
asking me triumphantly,, whether old King Sol, as he call- 
ed the son of David, did not have a whole frigate-full of 
wives ; and that being the case, whether he, a poor sailor, 
did not have just as good a right to have two ? “ What 

was not wrong then, is right now,” said Max ; “ so, mind 
your eye. Buttons, or I’ll crack your pepper-box for you !” 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

HE GOES TO SUPPER AT THE SIGN OF THE BALTIMORE CLIPPER. 

In the afternoon onr pilot was all alive with his orders ; 
we hove up the anchor, and after a deal of pulling, and 
hauling, and jamming against other ships, we wedged our 
way through a lock at high tide ; and about dark, succeeded 
in working up to a berth in Prince's Dock. The hawsers 
and tow-lines being then coiled away, the crew were told to 
go ashore, select their boarding-house, and sit down to supper. 

Here it must be mentioned, that owing to the strict but 
necessary regulations of the Liverpool docks, no fires of any 
kind are allowed on board the vessels within them ; and 
hence, though the sailors are supposed to sleep in the fore- 
castle, yet they must get their meals ashore, or live upon 
cold potatoes. To a ship, the American merchantmen 
adopt the former plan ; the ovmers, of course, paying the 
landlord’s bill ; which, in a large crew remaining at Liver- 
pool more than six weeks, as we of the Highlander did, 
forms no inconsiderable item in the expenses of the voyage. 
Other ships, however — the economical Dutch and Danish, 
for instance, and sometimes the prudent Scotch — feed their 
luckless tars in dock, vdth precisely the same fare which they 
give them at sea ; taking their salt junk ashore to be cooked, 
which, indeed, is but scurvy sort of treatment, since it is 
very apt to induce the scurvy. A parsimonious proceeding 
like this is regarded with immeasurable disdain by the crews 
of the New York vessels, who, if their captains treated them 
after that fashion, would soon bolt and run. 

It was quite dark, when we all sprang ashore ; and, for 
the first time, I felt dusty particles of the renowned British 


168 


RBDBURN; 


soil penetrating into my eyes and lungs. As for stepping 
on it, that was out of the question, in the well-paved and 
flagged condition of the streets ; and I did not have an op- 
portunity to do so till some time afterward, when I got out 
into the country ; and then, indeed, I saw England, and 
snuffed its immortal loam — ^but not till then. 

Jackson led the van; and after stopping at a tavern, took 
us up this street, and down that, till at last he brought us to 
a narrow lane, filled with boarding-houses, spirit-vaults, and 
sailors. Here we stopped before the sign of a Baltimore 
Clipper, flanked on one side by a gilded bunch of grapes and 
a bottle, and on the other by the British Unicorn and Amer- 
ican Eagle, lying down by each other, like the lion and 
lamb in the millenium. — A very judicious and tasty device, 
showing a delicate apprehension of the propriety of conciliat- 
ing American sailors in an English boarding-house ; and yet 
in no way derogating from the honor and dignity of England, 
but placing the two nations, indeed, upon a footing of perfect 
equality. 

Near the unicorn was a very small animal, which at first 
I took for a young unicorn ; but it looked more like a year- 
ling lion. It was holding up one paw, as if it had a splinter 
in it ; and on its head was a sort of basket-hilted, low- 
crowned hat, without a rim. I asked a sailor standing 
by, what this animal meant, when, looking at me with 
a grin, he answered, “ Why, youngster, don’t you know 
what that means ? It’s a young jackass, limping off with 
a kedgeree pot of rice out of the cuddy.” 

Though it was an English boarding-house, it was kept by 
a broken-down American mariner, one Danby, a dissolute, 
idle fellow, who had married a buxom English wife, and 
now lived upon her industry ; for the lady, and not the sailor, 
proved to be the head of the establishment. 

She was a hale, good-looking woman, about forty years 
old, and among the seamen went by the name of “ Hand- 
mine Mary'' But though, from the dissipated character of 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


169 


her spouse, Mary had become the business personage of the 
house, bought the marketing, overlooked the tables, and con- 
ducted all the more important arrangements, yet she was 
by no means an Amazon to her husband, if she did plai a 
masculine part in other matters. No ; and the more is fthe 
pity, poor Mary seemed too much attached to DanbJ to 
seek to rule him as a termagant. Often she went aboutflier 
household concerns with the tears in her eyes, when, aftbr a 
fit of intoxication, this brutal husband of hers had been beat- 
ing her. The sailors took her part, and many a time volun- 
teered to give him a thorough thrashing before her eyes ; but 
Mary would beg them not to do so, as Danby would, no 
doubt, be a better boy next time. 

But there seemed no likelihood of this, so long as that 
abominable bar of his stood upon the premises. As you 
entered the passage, it stared upon you on one side, ready to 
entrap all guests. 

It was a grotesque, old-fashioned, castellated sort of a 
sentry-box, made of a smoky-colored wood, and with a grat- 
ing in front, that lifted up like a portcullis. And here 
would this Danby sit all the day long; and when customers 
grew thin, would patronize his own ale himself, pouring 
down mug after mug, as if he took himself for one of his own 
quarter-casks. 

Sometimes an old crony of his, one Bob Still, would come 
in ; and then they would occupy the sentry-box together, and 
swill their beer in concert. This pot-friend of Danby was 
portly as a dray-horse, and had a round, sleek, oily head, 
twinkling eyes, and moist red cheeks. He was a lusty 
troller of ale-songs ; and, with his mug in his hand, would 
lean his waddling bulk partly out of the sentry-box, singing : 

“No frost, no snow, no wind, I trow, 

Can hurt me if I wold, 

I am so wrapt, and thoroughly lapt 
In jolly good ale and old, — 

I stuff my skin so full within. 

Of jolly good ale and old.’’ 


170 


REDBURN: 


Or this, — 

“ Your wines and brandies I detest, 

Here’s richer juice from barley press’d. 

It is the quintescence of malt, 

And they that drink it want no salt. 

Come, then, quick come, and take this beer. 

And water henceforth you’ll forswear.” 

Alas ! Handsome Mary. What avail all thy private 
tears and remonstrances with the incorrigible Danby, so long 
as that brewery of a toper, Bob Still, daily eclipses thy 
threshhold with the vast diameter of his paunch, and en- 
thrones himself in the sentry-box, holding divided rule with 
thy spouse ? 

The more he drinks, the fatter and rounder waxes Bob ; 
and the songs pour out as the ale pours in, on the well- 
known principle, that the air in a vessel is displaced and 
expelled, as the liquid rises higher and higher in it. 

But as for Danby, the miserable Yankee grows sour on 
good cheer, and dries up the thinner for every drop of fat 
ale he imbibes. It is plain and demonstrable, that much 
ale is not good for Yanltees, and operates diflerently upon 
them from what it does upon a Briton : ale must be drank 
in a fog and a drizzle. 

•Entering the sign of the Clipper, Jackson ushered us into 
a small room on one side, and shortly after, Handsome Mary 
waited upon us with a courtesy, and received the compliments 
of several old guests among our crew. She then disappeared 
to provide our supper. While my shipmates were now en- 
gaged in tippling, and talking with numerous old acquaint- 
ances of theirs in the neighborhood, who thronged about the 
door, I remained alone in the little room, meditating pro- 
foundly upon the fact, that I was now seated upon an En- 
glish bench, under an English roof, in an English tavern, 
forming an integral part of the English empire. It was a 
.staggering fact, but none the less true. 

I examined the place attentively ; it was a long, narrow, 


HIS kiRST VOYAGE. 


171 


little room, with one small arched window with red curtains, 
looking out upon a smoky, untidy yard, bounded by a dingy 
brick-wall, the top of which was horrible with pieces of 
broken old bottles, stuck into mortar. 

A dull lamp swung overhead, placed in a wooden ship 
suspended from the ceiling. The walls were covered with 
a paper, representing an endless succession of vessels of all 
nations continually circumnavigating the apartment. By 
way of a pictorial mainsail to one of these ships, a map was 
hung against it, representing in faded colors the flags of all 
nations. From the street came a confused uproar of ballad- 
singers, bawling women, babies, and drunken sailors. 

And this is England ? 

But where are the old abbeys, and the York. Minsters, 
and the lord mayors, and coronations, and the May-poles, 
and fox-hunters, and Derby races, and the dukes and duch- 
esses, and the Count d’Orsays, which, from all my reading, 
I had been in the habit of associating with England ? Not 
the most distant glimpse of them was to be seen. 

Alas ! Wellingborough, thought I, I fear you stand but 
a poor chance to see the sights. You are nothing but a 
poor sailor boy ; and the Queen is not going to send a depu- 
tation of noblemen to invite you to St. James’s. 

It was then, I began to see, that my prospects of seeing 
the world as a sailor were, after all, but very doubtful ; for 
sailors only go round the world, without going into it ; and 
their reminiscences of travel are only a dim recollection of 
a chain of tap-rooms surrounding the globe, parallel with the 
Equator. They but touch the perimeter of the circle ; hover 
about the edges of terra-firma ; and only land upon wharves 
and pier-heads. They would dream as little of traveling inland 
to see Kenilworth, or Blenheim Castle, as they would of sending 
a card overland to the Pope, when they touched at Naples. 

From these reveries I was soon roused, by a servant girl 
hurrying from room to room, in shrill tones exclaiming, 
“ Supper, supper ready.” 


172 


REDBURN: 


Mounting a rickety staircase, we entered a room on the 
second floor. Three tall brass candlesticks shed a smoky 
light upon smoky walls, of what had once been sea-blue, 
covered with sailor-scrawls of foul anchors, lovers’ sonnets, 
and ocean ditties. On one side, nailed against the wainscot 
in a row, were the four knaves of cards, each Jack putting his 
best foot foremost as usual. What these signified I never heard. 

But such ample cheer ! Such a groaning table ! Such 
a superabundance of solids and substantial ! Was it pos- 
sible that sailors fared thus ? — ^the sailors, who at sea live 
upon salt beef and biscuit ? 

First and foremost, was a mighty pewter dish, big as 
Achilles’ shield, sustaining a pyramid of smoking sausages. 
This stood at one end ; midway was a similar dish, heavily 
laden with farmers’ slices of head-cheese ; and at the oppo- 
site end, a congregation of beef-steaks, piled tier over tier. 
Scattered at intervals between, were side dishes of boiled 
potatoes, eggs by the score, bread, and pickles ; and on a 
stand adjoining, was an ample reserve of every thing on the 
supper table. 

We fell to with all our hearts ; wrapt ourselves in hot 
jackets of beef-steaks ; curtailed the sausages with great 
celerity ; and sitting down before the head-cheese, soon razed 
it to its foundations. 

Toward the close of the entertainment, I suggested to 
Peggy, one of the girls who had waited upon us, that a cup 
of tea would be a nice thing to take ; and I would thank 
her for one. She replied that it was too late for tea ; but 
she would get me a cup of “ swipes'’ if I wanted it. 

Not knowing what swipes” might be, I thought I would 
run the risk and try it ; but it proved a miserable beverage, 
with a musty, sour flavor, as if it had been a decoction of 
spoiled pickles. I never patronized swipes again ; but gave 
it a wide berth ; though, at dinner afterward, it was fur- 
nished to an unlimited extent, and drunk by most of my 
shipmates, who pronounced it good. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


173 


But Bob Still would not have pronounced it so ; for this 
swipes, as I learned, was a sort of cheap substitute for beer ; 
or a bastard kind of beer ; or the washings and rinsings of 
old beer-barrels. But I do not remember now what they 
said it was, precisely. I only know, that swipes was my 
abomination. As for the taste of it, I can only describe it 
as answering to the name itself ; which is certainly signifi- 
cant of something vile. But it is drunk in large quantities 
by the poor people about Liverpool, which, perhaps, in some 
degree, accounts for their poverty. 


CHAPTER XXTX. 

REDBURN DEFERENTIALLY DISCOURSES CONCERNING THE 
PROSPECTS OF SAILORS. 

The ship remained in Prince’s Dock over six weeks ; but 
as I do not mean to present a diary of my stay there, I shall 
here simply record the general tenor of the life led by our 
crew during that interval ; and will then proceed to note 
down, at random, my own wanderings about town, and im- 
pressions of things as they are recalled to me now, after the 
lapse of so many years. 

But first, I must mention that we saw little of the captain 
during our stay in the dock. Sometimes, cane in hand, he 
sauntered down of a pleasajit morning from the Arms Hotel, 
I believe it was, where he boarded ; and after lounging about 
the ship, giving orders to his Prime Minister and Grand 
Vizier, the chief mate, he would saunter back to his draw- 
ing-rooms. 

From the glimpse of a play-bill, which I detected peeping 
out of his pocket, I inferred that he patronized the theaters ; 
and from the flush of his cheeks, that he patronized the fine 
old Port wine, for which Liverpool is famous. 

Occasionally, however, he spent his nights on board ; and 
mad, roystering nights they were, such as rare Ben Jonson 
would have delighted in. For company over the cabin-table, 
he would have four or five whiskered sea-captains, who kept 
the steward drawing corks and filling glasses all the time. 
And once, the whole company were found under the table 
at four o’clock in the morning, and were put to bed and 
tucked in by the two mates. Upon this occasion, I agreed 
witfi our woolly Doctor of Divinity, the black cook, that they 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


175 


should have been ashamed of themselves ; but there is no 
shame in some sea-captains, who only blush after the third 
bottle. 

During the many visits of Captain Riga to the ship, he 
always said something courteous to a gentlemanly, friendless 
custom-house officer, who staid on board of us nearly all the 
time we lay in the dock. 

And weary days they must have been to this friendless 
custom-house officer ; trying to kill time in the cabin with 
a newspaper ; and rapping on the transom with his knuckles. 
He was kept on board to prevent smuggling ; but he used 
to smuggle himself ashore very often, when, according to 
law, he should have been at his post on board ship. But 
no wonder ; he seemed to be a man of fine feelings, alto- 
gether above his situation ; a most inglorious one, indeed ; 
worse than driving geese to water. 

And now, to proceed with the csew. 

At daylight, all hands were called, and the decks were 
washed down ; then we had an hour to go ashore to break- 
fast ; after which we worked at the rigging, or picked oak- 
um, or were set to some employment or other, never mind 
how trivial, till twelve o’clock, when we went to dinner. At 
half-past one we resumed work ; and finally knocked off at 
four o’clock in the afternoon, unless something particular 
was in hand. And after four o’clock, we could go where we 
pleased, and were not required to be on board again till next 
morning at daylight. 

As we had nothing to do with the cargo, of course, our 
duties were light enough ; and the chief mate was often put 
to it to devise some employment for us. 

We had no watches to stand, a ship-keeper, hired from shore, 
relieving us from that ; and all the while the men’s wages ran 
on, as at sea. • Sundays we had to ourselves. 

Thus, it will be seen, that the life led by sailors of Ameri- 
can ships in Liverpool, is an exceedingly easy one, and abound- 
ing in leisure. ’ They live ashore on the fat of the land ; and 


176 


R E D B U R N : 


after a little wholesome exercise in the morning, have the rest 
of the day to themselves. 

Nevertheless, these Liverpool voyages, likewise those to 
London and Havre, are the least profitable that an improv- 
ident seaman can take. Because, in New York he receives 
his month’s advance ; in Liverpool, another ; both of which, 
in most cases, quickly disappear ; so that by the time his 
voyage terminates, he generally has but little coming to him ; 
sometimes not a cent. Whereas, upon a long voyage, say to 
India or China, his wages accumulate ; he has more induce- 
ments to economize, and far fewer motives to extravagance ; 
and when he is paid off at last, he goes away jingling a 
quart measure of dollars. 

Besides, of all sea-ports in the world, Liverpool, perhaps, 
most abounds in all the variety of land-sharks, land-rats, 
and other vermin, which make the hapless mariner their 
prey. In the shape of lajidlords, bar-keepers, clothiers, crimps, 
and boarding-house loungers, the land-sharks devour him, limb 
by limb ; while the land-rats and mice constantly nibble at 
his purse. 

Other perils he runs, also, far worse ; from the denizens 
of notorious Corinthian haunts in the vicinity of the docks, 
which in depravity are not to be matched by any thing this 
side of the pit that is bottomless. 

And yet, sailors love this Liverpool ; and upon long voyages 
to distant parts of the globe, will be continually dilating upon 
its charms and attractions, and extolling it above all other 
sea-ports in the world. For in Liverpool they find their 
Paradise — not the well known street of that name — and 
one of them told me he would be content to lie in Prince’s 
Dock till he hove up anchor for the world to come. 

Much is said of ameliorating the condition of sailors ; but 
it must ever prove a most difficult endeavor, so long as the 
antidote is given before the bane is removed. 

Consider, that, with the majority of them, the very fact 
of their being sailors, argues a certain recklessness and sen- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


177 


I 

sualism of character, ignorance, and depravity ; consider that 
they are generally friendless and alone in the world ; or if 
they have friends and relatives, they are almost constantly 
beyond the reach of their good influences ; consider that 
after the rigorous discipline, hardships, dangers, and priva- 
tions of a voyage, they are set adrift in a foreign port, and 
exposed to a thousand enticements, which, under the circum- 
stances, would be hard even for virtue itself to withstand, un- 
less virtue went about on crutches ; consider that by their 
very vocation they are shunned by the better classes of 
people, and cut off from all access to respectable and im- 
proving society ; consider all this, and the reflecting mind 
must very soon perceive that the case of sailors, as a class, 
is not a very promising one. 

Indeed, the bad things of their condition come under the 
head of those chronic evils which can only be ameliorated, it 
would seem, by ameliorating the moral organization of all 
civilization. 

Though old seventy-fours and old frigates are converted 
into chapels, and launched into the docks ; though the 
“Boatswain’s Mate” and other clever religious tracts in the 
nautical dialect are distributed among them ; though clergy- 
men harangue them from the pier-heads : and chaplains in 
the navy read sermons to them on the gun-deck ; though 
evangelical boarding-houses are provided for them ; though 
the parsimony of ship-owners has seconded the really sincere 
and pious efforts of Temperance Societies, to take away 
from seamen their old rations of grog while at sea : — not- 
withstanding all these things, and many more, the relative 
condition of the great bulk of sailors to the rest of man- 
kind, seems to remain pretty much where it was, a century 
ago. 

It is too much the custom, perhaps, to regard as a special 
advance, that unavoidable, and merely participative progress, 
which any one class makes in sharing the general movement 
of the race. Thus, because the sailor, who to-day steers the 


178 


REDBURN: 


Hibernia or Unicorn steam-ship across the Atlantic, is a 
somewhat different man from the exaggerated sailors of 
Smollett, and the men who fought with Nelson at Copen- 
hagen, and survived to riot themselves away at North 
Corner in Plymouth ; — because the modern tar is not quite 
so gross as heretofore, and has shaken off some of his shaggy 
jackets, and docked his Lord Rodney queue ; — therefore, in 
the estimation of some observers, he has begun to see the 
evils of his condition, and has voluntarily improved. But 
upon a closer scrutiny, it will be seen that he has but drifted 
along with that great tide, which, perhaps, has two flows 
for one ebb ; he has made no individual advance of his 
own. 

There are classes of men in the world, who bear the same 
relation to society at large, that the wheels do to a coach : 
and are just as indispensable. But however easy and de- 
lectable the springs upon which the insiders pleasantly 
vibrate : however sumptuous the hammer-cloth, and glossy 
the door-panels ; yet, for all this, the wheels must still revolve 
in dusty, or muddy revolutions. No contrivance, no sagacity 
can lift them out of the mire ; for upon something the coach 
must be bottomed ; on something the insiders must roll. 

Now, sailors form one of these wheels : they go and come 
round the globe ; they are the true importers, and exporters 
of spices and silks ; of fruits and wines and marbles ; they 
carry missionaries, embassadors, opera-singers, armies, mer- 
chants, tourists, scholars to their destination : they are a 
bridge of boats across the Atlantic ; they are the primum 
mobile of all commerce ; and, in short, were they to emigrate 
in a body to man the navies of the moon, almost every thing 
would stop here on earth except its revolution on its axis, 
and the orators in the American Congress. 

And yet, what are sailors ? What in your 'heart do you 
think of that fellow staggering along the dock ? Do you not 
give him a wide berth, shun him, and account him but little 
above the brutes that perish ? Will you throw open your 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


179 


parlors to him ; invite him to dinner ? or give him a season 
ticket to your pew in church ? — No. You will do no such 
thing ; but at a distance, you will perhaps subscribe a dollar 
or two for the building of a hospital, to accommodate sailors 
already broken down ; or for the distribution of excellent 
books among tars who can not read. And the very mode 
and manner in which such charities are made, bespeak, more 
than words, the low estimation dn which sailors are held. 
It is useless to gainsay it; they are deemed almost the 
refuse and ofiscourings of the earth ; and the romantic view 
of them is principally had through romances. 

But can sailors, one of the wheels of this world, be wholly 
lifted up from the mire? There seems not much chance for 
it, in the old systems and programmes of the future, however 
well-intentioned and sincere ; for with such systems, the 
thought of lifting them up seems almost as hopeless as that 
of growing the grape in Nova Zembla. 

But we must not altogether despair for the sailor ; nor 
need those who toil for his good be at bottom disheartened. 
For Time must prove his friend in the end ; and though 
sometimes he Avould almost seem as a neglected step-son of 
heaven, permitted to run on and riot out his days with no 
hand to restrain him, while others are watched over and 
tenderly cared for ; yet we feel and we know that God is 
the true Father of all, and that none of his children are 
without the pale of his care. 


-'.v 


CHAPTER XXX. 


RUDBURN GROWS INTOLERABLY FLAT AND STUPID OVER SOME 
OUTLANDISH OLD GUIDE-BOOKS. 

Among the odd volumes in my father’s library, was a 
collection of old European and English guide-books, which 
{le had bought on his travels, a great many years ago. In 
my childhood, I went through many courses of studying 
them, .and never tired of gazing at the numerous quaint 
embellishments and plates, and staring at the strange title- 
]}ages, some of which I thought resembled the mustached 
faces of foreigners. 

Among others was a Parisian-looking, faded, pink-covered 
pamphlet, the rouge here and there effaced upon its now 
thin and attenuated cheeks, entitled, ^^Voyage Descriptif et 
Philosophique de U Ancien et du Nouveau Paris: Miroir 
Fidele A also a time-darkened, mossy old book, in marbleized 
binding, much resembling verd-antique, entitled, Itinkraire 
Instructif de Rome, ou Description Generate des Monumens 
Antiques et Modernes et des Ouvrages Ics plus Remarqua- 
bles de Peinteur, de Sculpture, et de Architecture de cette 
Celebre VilleA on the russet title-page is a vignette repre- 
senting a barren rock, partly shaded by a scrub-oak (a forlorn 
bit of landscape), and under the lee of the rock and the 
shade of the tree, maternally reclines the houseless foster- 
mother of Romulus and Remus, giving suck to the illustrious 
twins ; a pair of naked little cherubs sprawling on the ground, 
with locked arms, eagerly engaged at their absorbing occu- 
pation ; a large cactus-leaf or diaper hangs from a bough, 
and the wolf looks a good deal like one of the no-horn breed 
of barn-yard cows ; the work is published ^Avec privilege 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 1^1 


du Souverain Pontife.^^ There was also a velvet-bound 
old volume, in brass clasps, entitled, “ The Conductor through 
Holland'' with a plate of the Stadt House; also a venerable 
“ Picture of London," abounding in representations of St. 
Paul’s, the Monument, Temple-Bar, Hyde-P ark- Corner, the 
Horse Guards, the Admiralty, Charing- Cross, and Vauxhall 
Bridge. Also, a bulky book, in a dusty-looking yellow cover, 
reminding one of the paneled doors of a mail-coach, and 
bearing an elaborate title-page, full of printer’s flourishes, in 
emulation of the cracks of a four-in-hand whip, entitled, in 
part, “TAe Great Roads, both direct and cross, throughout 
England and Wales, from an actual Admeasurement by 
order of His Majesty's P ostmaster- General : This work 
describes the Cities, Market and Borough and Corporate 
Towns, and those at which the Assizes are held, and gives 
the time of the Mails' arrival and departure from each : 
Describes the Inns in the Metropolis from which the stages 
go, and the Inns in the country which supply postdicrrses 
and carriages : Describes the Noblemen and Gentlemen's 
Seats situate near the Road, with Maps of the Environs 
of Lo 7 idon, Bath, Brighton, and Margate." It is dedicated 
“ To the Right Honorable the Earls of Chesterfield and 
Leicester, by their Lordships' Most Obliged, Obedient, and 
Obsequious Servant, lohn Cary, 1798.” Also a green 
pamphlet, with a motto from Virgil, and an intricate coat 
of arms on the cover, looking like a diagram of the Labyrinth 
of Crete, entitled, “A Description of York, its Antiquities 
and Public Buildings, particularly the Cathedral; com- 
piled loith great pains from the most authentic records. " 
Also a small scholastic-looking volume, in a classic vellum 
binding, and with a frontispiece bringing together at one 
view the towers and turrets of King’s College and the mag- 
nificent Cathedral of Ely, though geographically sixteen miles 
apart, entitled, ^'■The Cambridge Guide: its Colleges, Halls, 
Libraries, and Museums, with the Ceremonies of the Toicn 
and University, and some account of Ely Cathedral." 


182 


RED BURN; 


Also a pamphlet, with a japaned sort of cover, stamped with 
a disorderly higgledy-piggledy group of pagoda-looking struc- 
tures, claiming to he an accurate representation of the 
or Graiid Front of Blenheim and entitled, “A Descrip- 
tio7i of Blenheim, the Seat of His Grace the Duke of 
Marlborough; containing a full account of the Paintings, 
Tapestry, and Furniture : a Picturesque Tour of the 
Gardens and Parks, and a General Description of the 
Famous China Gallery, Sfc.; with an Essay on Land- 
scape Gardening : and embellished with a View of the 
Palace, and a Neiv and Elegant Plan of the Great 
Parky And lastly, and to the purpose, there was a volume 
called “ THE PICTURE OF LIVERPOOL.” 

It was a curious and remarkable book ; and from the 
"■many fond associations connected with it, I should like to 
immortalize it, if I could. 

But let me get it down from its shrine, and paint it, if I 
may, from the life. 

As I now linger over the volume, to and fro turning the 
pages so dear to my boyhood, — the very pages which, years 
and years ago, my father turned over amid the very scenes 
that are here described ; what a soft, pleasing sadness steals 
over me, and how I melt into the past and forgotten ! 

Dear book ! I will sell my Shakspeare, and even sacri- 
fice my old quarto Hogarth, before I will part with you. 
Yes, I will go to the hammer myself, ere I send you to be 
knocked down in the auctioneer’s shambles. I will, my be- 
loved, — old family relic that you are ; — till you drop leaf 
from leaf, and letter from letter, you shall have a snug shelf 
somewhere, though I have no bench for myself. 

In size, it is what the booksellers call an ISqiio ; it is 
bound in green morocco, which from my earliest recollection 
has been spotted and tarnished with time ; the corners are 
marked with triangular patches of red, like little cocked 
hats ; and some unknown Goth has inflicted an incurable 
v/ound upon the back. There is no lettering outside ; so 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


183 


that he who lounges past my humble shelves, seldom dreams 
of opening the anonymous little book in green. There it 
stands ; day after day, week after week, year after year ; 
and no one but myself regards it. But I make up for all 
neglects, with my own abounding love for it. 

But let us open the volume. 

What are these scrawls in the fly-leaves ?.^what incorrig- 
ible pupil of a writing-master has been here ? what crayon 
sketcher of wild animals and falling air-castles ? Ah, no ! 
— these are all part and parcel of the precious book, which 
go to make up the sum of its treasure to me. 

Some of the scrawls are my own ; and as poets do with 
their juvenile sonnets, I might write under this horse, 
“ Drawn at the age of three years f and under this auto- 
graph, Executed at the age of eight. 

Others are the handiwork of my brothers, and sisters, 
and cousins ; and the hands that sketched some of them are 
now moldered away. 

But what does this anchor here ? this ship ? and this 
sea-ditty of Dibdin’s ? The book must have fallen into the 
hands of some tarry captain of a forecastle. No : that 
anchor, ship, and Dibdin’s ditty are mine ; this hand drew 
them ; and on this very voyage to Liverpool. But not so 
fast ; I did not mean to tell that yet. 

Full in the midst of these pencil scrawlings, completely 
surrounded indeed, stands in indelible, though faded ink, and 
in my father’s hand-writing, the following : — 

Walter Bedburn. 

Riddough’s Royal Hotel, 
Liverpool, March 20th, 1808. 

Turning over that leaf, I come upon some half-efiacett 
miscellaneous memoranda in pencil, characteristic of a 
methodical mind, and therefore indubitably my father’s, 
which he must have made at various times during his stay 
in Liverpool. These are full of a strange, subdued, old, 
midsummer interest to me : and though, from the numerous 


184 


RE DBURN; 


efiacements, it is much like cross-reading to make them out ; 
yet, I must here copy a few at random : — 

£ s. d. 


Guide-Book ..... 36 

Dinner at the Star and Garter . . 10 

Trip to Preston {distance Sim.) . .2 6 3 

Gratuities ..... 4 

Hack ...... 46 

Thompson's Seasons . . . . 5 

Library ...... 1 

Boat on the river .... 6 

Port wine and cigars .... 4 


And on the opposite page, I can just decipher the follow- 
. ing: 

Dine with Mr. Roscoe on Monday. 

Call upon Mr. Morille same day. 

Leave card at Colonel Digby's on Tuesday. 

Theatre Friday night — Richard III. and new farce. 

Present letter at Miss L 's on Tuesday. 

Call on Sampson Sf Wilt, Friday. 

Get my draft on London cashed. 

Write home by the Princess. 

Letter bag at Sampson and Wilt's. 

Turning over the next leaf, I unfold a map, which in the 
midst of the British Arms, in one corner displays in sturdy 
text, that this is “ A Plan of the Toivn of Liverpool." But 
there seems little plan in the confined and crooked looking 
marks for the streets, and the docks irregularly scattered 
along the bank of the Mersey, which flows along, a peaceful 
stream of shaded line engraving. 

On the northeast corner of the map, lies a level Sahara 
of yellowish white : a desert, which still bears marks of my 
zeal in endeavoring to populate it with all manner of uncouth 
monsters in crayons. The space designated by that spot is 
now, doubtless, completely built up in Liverpool. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


185 


Traced with a pen, I discover a number of dotted lines, 
radiating in all directions' from the foot of Lord-street, where 
stands marked “ Riddough's Hotel,'' the house my fathet 
stopped at. 

These marks delineate his various excursions in the town ; 
and I follow the lines on, through street and lane ; and 
across broad squares ; and penetrate with them into the 
narrowest courts. 

By these marks, I perceive that my father forgot not his 
religion in a foreign land ; hut attended St. John’s Church 
near the Hay-market, and other places of public worship : I 
see that he visited the News Room in Duke-street, the 
Lyceum in Bold-street, and the Theater Royal ; and that 
he called to pay his respects to the eminent Mr. Roscoe, the 
historian, poet, and banker. 

Reverentially folding this map, I pass a plate of the 
Town Hall, and come upon the Title Page, which, in the 
middle, is ornamented with a piece of landscape, representing 
a loosely clad lady in sandals, pensively seated upon a bleak 
rock on the sea shore, supporting her head with one hand, 
and with the other, exhibiting to the stranger an oval sort 
of salver, bearing the figure of a strange bird, with this 
motto elastically stretched for a border — “ Deus nobis licec 
otia fecit." 

The bird forms part of the city arms, and is an imaginary 
representation of a now extinct fowl, called the “ Liver f 
said to have inhabited a pool," which antiquarians assert 
once covered a good part of the ground where Liverpool now 
stands ; and from that bird, and this pool, Liverpool derives 
its name. 

At a distance from the pensive lady in sandals, is a ship 
under full sail ; and on the beach is the figure of a small 
man, vainly essaying to roll over a huge bale of goods. 

Equally divided at the top and bottom of this design, is 
the following title complete ; but I fear the printer will not 
be able to give a fac-simile : — 


]86 


REDBURN: 


The 

Picture 

of 

Liverpool : 

or, 

Stranger^s Guide 

and 

GenilemarCs Pocket Companion 
FOR THE TOWN. 

Embellished 
With Engravings 

By the Most Accomplished and Eminent Artists. 

Liverpool : 

Printed in Swift’s Court, 

And sold by Woodward and Alderson, 56 Castle St. 

1803. 

A brief and reverential preface, as if the writer were all 
the time bowing, informs the reader of the flattering recep- 
tion accorded to previous editions of the work ; and quotes 
“ testimonies of respect ivhich had lately appeared in various 
quarters — the British Critic, Review, and the seventh vol- 
ume of the Beauties of England and Wales ^' — and con- 
cludes by expressing the hope, that this new, revised, and 
illustrated edition might “ render it less unworthy of the 
public notice, and less unworthy also of the subject it is 
intended to illustrated 

A very nice, dapper, and respectful little preface, the time 
and place of writing which is solemnly recorded at the end 
— Hope Place, Is^ Sept. 1803. 

But how much fuller my satisfaction, as I fondly linger 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE 


187 


over this circumstantial paragraph, if the writer had re- 
corded the precise hour of the day, and by what time-piece ; 
and if he had but mentioned his age, occupation, and name. 

But all is now lost ; I know not who he was ; and this 
estimable author must needs share the oblivious fate of all 
literary incognitos. 

He must have possessed the grandest and most elevated 
ideas of true fame, since he scorned to be perpetuated by a 
solitary initial. Could I find him out now, sleeping neglected 
in some churchyard, I would buy him a head-stone, and re- 
cord upon it naught but his title-page, deeming that his 
noblest epitaph. 

After the preface, the book opens with an extract from a 
prologue written by the excellent Dr. Aiken, the brother of 
Mrs. Barbauld, upon the opening of the Theater Royal, 
Liverpool, in 1772: — 

“ Where Mersey’’ s stream^ long winding o'er the plain^ 

Pours his full tribute to the circling main^ 

A band of fishers chose their humble seat / 

Contented labor blessed the fair retreat^ • 

Inured to hardship^ patient^ bold, and rude, 

They braved the billows for precarious food : 

Their straggling huts were ranged along the shore. 

Their nets and little boats their only stored 

Indeed, throughout, the work abounds with quaint poetical 
quotations, and old-fashioned classical allusions to the ^neid 
and Falconer’s Shipwreck. 

And the anonymous author must have been not only a 
scholar and a gentleman, but a man of gentle disinterested- 
ness, combined with true city patriotism ; for in his “ Survey 
of the Town'' are nine thickly printed pages of a neglected 
poem by a neglected Liverpool poet. 

By way of apologizing for what might seem an obtrusion 
upon the public of so long an episode, he courteously and 
feelingly introduces it by saying, that “ the poem has now 
for several years been scarce, and is at present but little 
known ; and hence a very small portion of it loill no doubt 


188 


REDBURN: 


he highly acceptable to the cultivated reader ; especially as 
this noble epic is written with great felicity of expression 
and the sweetest delicacy of feeling.'" 

Once, but once only, an uncharitable thought crossed my 
mind, that the author of the Guide-Book might have been the 
author of the epic. But that was years ago ; and I have 
never since permitted so uncharitable a reflection to insinuate 
itself into my mind. 

This epic, from the specimen before me, is composed in 
the old stately style, and'rolls along commanding as a coach 
and four. It sings of Liverpool and the Mersey ; its docks, 
and ships, and warehouses, and bales, and anchors ; and after 
descanting upon the abject times, when “ his noble waves, 
inglorious, Mersey rolled," the poet breaks forth like all 
Parnassus with ; — 

“ Now o'er the. wondering world her name resounds, 

From northern climes to India’s distant hounds — 

Where’er his shores the broad Atlantic waves ^ 

Where’er the Baltic rolls his wintry waves ; 

Where’er the honored flood extends his tide, 

That clasps Sicilia like a favored bride. 

Greenland for her its bulky ivhale resigns, 

And temperate Gallia rears her generous vines : 

’Midst warm Iberia citron orchards blow, 

And the ripe fruitage bends the laboring hough ; 

In every clime her prosperous fleets are known. 

She makes the wealth of every clime her own.” 

It also contains a delicately-curtained allusion to Mr. 
Roscoe : — 

“ And here R*s*o^, with genius all his own. 

New tracks explores, and all before unknown.” 

Indeed, both the anonymous author of the Guide-Book, 
and the gifted bard of the Mersey, seem to have nourished 
the warmest appreciation of the fact, that to their be- 
loved town Roscoe imparted a reputation which gracefully 
embellished its notoriety as a mere place of commerce. He 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


189 


is called the modern Guicciardini of the modern Florence, 
and his histories, translations, and Italian Lives, are spoken 
of with classical admiration. 

The first chapter begins in a methodical, business-like 
way, by informing the impatient reader of the precise lati- 
tude and longitude of Liverpool ; so that, at the outset, there 
may be no misunderstanding on that head. It then goes on 
to give an account of the history and antiquities of the town, 
beginning with a record in the Doomsday- Book of William 
the Conqueror. 

Here, it must be sincerely confessed, however, that not- 
withstanding his numerous other merits, my favorite author 
betrays a want of the uttermost antiquarian and penetrating 
spirit, which would have scorned to stop in its researches at 
the reign of the Norman monarch, but would have pushed 
on resolutely through the dark ages, up to Moses, the man 
of Uz, and Adam ; and finally established the fact beyond a 
doubt, that the soil of Liverpool was created with the cre- 
ation. 

But, perhaps, one of the most curious passages in the 
chapter of antiquarian research, is the pious author’s moral- 
izing reflections upon an interesting fact he records : to wit, 
that in A.D. 1571, the inhabitants sent a memorial to Queen 
Elizabeth, praying relief under a subsidy, wherein they style 
themselves “ her majesty's 'poor decayed town of Liverpool." 

As I now fix my gaze upon this faded and dilapidated 
old guide-book, bearing every token of the ravages of near 
half a century, and read how this piece of antiquity enlarges 
like a modern upon previous antiquities, I am forcibly re- 
minded that the world is indeed growing old. And when I 
turn to the second chapter, “ On the increase of the town, and 
number of inhabitants f and then skim over page after page 
throughout the volume, all filled with allusions to the im- 
mense grandeur of a place, which, since then, has more than 
quadrupled in population, opulence, and splendor, and whose 
present inhabitants must look back upon the period here 


190 


REDBURN: 


spoken of with a swelling feeling of immeasurable superiority 
and pride, I am filled with a comical sadness at the vanity 
of all human exaltation. For the cope-stone of to-day is the 
corner-stone of to-morrow ; and as St. Peter’s church was 
built in great part of the ruins of old Rome, so in all our 
erections, however imposing, we but form quarries and sup- 
ply ignoble materials for the grander domes of posterity. 

And even as this old guide-book boasts of the, to us, insig- 
nificant Liverpool of fifty years ago, the New -York guide- 
books are now vaunting of the magnitude of a town, whose 
future inhabitants, multitudinous as the pebbles on the beach, 
and girdled in with high walls and towers, flanking endless 
avenues of opulence and taste, will regard all our Broadways 
and Bowerys as but the paltry nucleus to their Nineveh. 

" From far up the Hudson, beyond Harlem River, where the 
young saplings are now growing, that will overarch their 
lordly mansions with broad boughs, centuries old ; they may 
send forth explorers to penetrate into the then obscure and 
smoky alleys of the Fifth Avenue and Fourteenth-street; and 
going still farther south, may exhume the present Doric 
Custom-house, and quote it as a proof that their high and 
mighty metropolis enjoyed a Hellenic antiquity. 

As I am extremely loth to omit giving a specimen of the 
dignified style of this “ Picture of Liver jioolf so different 
from the brief, pert, and unclerkly hand-books to Niagara 
and Buffalo of the present day, I shall now insert the chap- 
ter of antiquarian researches; especially as it is entertain- 
ing in itself, and affords much valuable, and perhaps rare 
information, which the reader may need, concerning the fa- 
• mous town, to which I made my first voyage. And I think 
that with regard to a matter, concerning which I myself am 
wholly ignorant, it is far better to quote my old friend 
verbatim, than to mince his substantial baron-of-beef of 
information into a flimsy ragout of my own ; and so, pass it 
off as original. Yes, I will render unto my honored guide- 
book its due. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


191 


But how can the printer’s art so dim and mellow down 
the pages into a soft sunset yellow; and to the reader’s eye, 
shed over the type all the pleasant associations which the 
original carries to me ! - ^ 

No ! by my father’s sacred memory, and all sacred priva- 
cies of fond family reminiscences, I will not ! I will not 
quote thee, old Morocco, before the cold face of the marble- 
hearted world ; for your antiquities would only be skipped 
and dishonored by shallow-minded readers ; and for me, I 
should be charged with swelling out my volume by plagiar- 
izing from a guide-book — the most vulgar and ignominious 
of thefts ’ 


I 


CHAPTER XXXI. 


WITH HIS PROSY OLD GUIDE-BOOK, HE TAKES A PROSY STROLL 
THROUGH THE TOWN. 

When I left home, I took the green morocco guide-book 
along, supposing that from the great number of ships going 
to Liverpool, I would most probably ship on board of one of 
them, as the event itself proved. 

Great was my boyish delight at the prospect of visiting a 
place, the infallible clew to all whose intricacies I held in my 
hand. 

On the passage out I studied its pages a good deal. In 
the first place, I grounded myself thoroughly in the history 
and antiquities of the town, as set forth in the chapter I 
intended to quote. Then I mastered the columns of statistics, 
touching the advance of population ; and pored over them, as 
I used to do over my multiplication-table. For I was deter- 
mined to make the whole subject my own ; and not be con- 
tent with a mere smattering of the thing, as is too much the 
custom with most students of guide-books. Then I perused 
one by one the elaborate descriptions of public edifices, and 
scrupulously compared the text with the corresponding en- 
graving, to ^see whether they corroborated each other. For 
be it known that, including the map, there were no less than 
seventeen plates in the work. And by often examining them, 
I had so impressed every column and cornice in my mind,' 
that I had no doubt of recognizing the originals in a moment. 

In short, when I considered that my own father had used 
this very guide-book, and that thereby it had been thoroughly 
tested, and its fidelity proved beyond a peradventure ; I could 
not but think that I was building myself up in an unerring 


HIS F 1 R S T V O Y A G E. 


193 


knowledge of Liverpool ; especially as I had familiarized 
myself with the map, and could turn sharp corners on it, 
with marvelous confidence and celerity. 

In imagination, as I lay in my berth on ship-board, I 
used to take pleasant afternoon rambles through the town ; 
down St. James-street and up Great George’s, stopping at 
various places of interest and attraction. I began to think 
I had been born in Liverpool, so familiar seemed all the 
features of the map. And though some of the streets there 
depicted were thickly involved, endlessly angular and crooked, 
like the map of Boston, in Massachusetts, yet, I made no 
doubt, that I could march through them in the darkest 
night, and even run for the most distant dock upon a press- 
ing emergency. 

Dear delusion ! 

It never occurred to my boyish thoughts, that though a 
guide-book, fifty years old, might have done good service in 
its day, yet it would prove but a miserable cicerone to a 
modern. I little imagined that the Liverpool my father 
saw, was another Liverpool from that to which I, his son 
Wellingborough was sailing. No ; these things never ob- 
truded ; so accustomed had I been to associate my old mo- 
rocco guide-book with the town it described, that the bare 
thought of there being any discrepancy, never entered my 
mind. 

While we lay in the Mersey, before entering the dock, I 
got out my guide-book to see how the map would compare 
with the identical place itself. But they bore not the slight- 
est resemblance. However, thinks I, this is owing to my 
taking a horizontal view, instead of a bird’s-eye survey. So, 
never mind old guide-book, you, at least, are all right. 

But my faith received a severe shock that same evening, 
when the crew went ashore to supper, as I have previously 
related. 

The men stopped at a curious old tavern, near the Prince’s 
Dock’s walls ; and having my guide-book in my pocket, I 

I 


194 


REDBUUN: 


drew it forth to compare notes, when I found, that precisely 
upon the spot where I and my shipmates were standing, and 
a cherry-cheeked bar-maid was filling their glasses, my infal- 
lible old Morocco, in that very place, located a fort ; add- 
ing, that it was well worth the intelligent stranger’s while 
to visit it for the purpose of beholding the guard relieved in 
the evening. 

This was a staggerer ; for how could a tavern be mis- 
taken for a castle ? and this was about the hour mentioned 
for the guard to turn out ; yet not a red coat was to be seen. 
But for all this, I could not, for one small discrepancy, con- 
demn the old family servant who had so faithfully served my 
own father before me ; and when I learned that this tavern 
went by the name of “ The Old Fort Tavern;'^ and when 
I was told that many of the old stones were yet in the walls, 
I almost completely exonerated my guide-book from the half- 
insinuated charge of misleading me. 

The next day was Sunday, and I had it all to myself ; 
and now, thought I, my guide-book and I shall have a fa- 
mous ramble up street and down lane, even unto the furthest 
fimits of this Liverpool. 

I rose bright and early ; from head to foot performed my 
ablutions “ with Eastern scrupulosity,” and I arrayed my- 
self in my red shirt and shooting-jacket, and the sportsman’s 
pantaloons ; and crowned my entire man with the tarpaulin ; 
so that from this curious combination of clothing, and par- 
ticularly from my red shirt, I must have looked like a very 
strange compound indeed : three parts sportsman, and two 
soldier, to one of the sailor. 

My shipmates, of course, made merry at my appearance ; 
but I heeded them not ; and after breakfast, jumped ashore, 
full of brilliant anticipations. 

My gait was erect, and I was rather tall of my age ; and 
that may have been the reason why, as I was rapidly walk- 
ing along the dock, a drunken sailor passing, exclaimed, 
Eyes right ! quick step there 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


195 


Another fellow stopped me to know whether I was going 
fox-hunting ; and one of the dock-police, stationed at the 
gates, after peeping out upon me from his sentry box, a snug 
little den, furnished with benches and newspapers, and hung 
round with storm jackets and oiled capes, issued forth in a 
great hurry, crossed my path as I was emerging into the street, 
and commanded me to halt ! I obeyed ; when scanning 
my appearance pertinaciously, he desired to know where I 
got that tarpaulin hat, not being able to account for the 
phenomenon of its roofing the head of a broken-down fox- 
hunter. But I pointed to my ship, which lay at no great 
distance ; when remarking from my voice that I was 
a Yankee, this faithful functionary permitted me to pass. 

It must be known that the police stationed at the gates 
of the docks are extremely observant of strangers going out ; 
as many thefts are perpetrated on board the ships ; and if 
they chance to see any thing suspicious, they probe into it 
without mercy. Thus, the old men who buy shakings,^^ 
and rubbish from vessels, must turn their bags wrong side 
out before the police, ere they are allowed to go outside the 
walls. And often they will search a suspicious looking fel- 
low’s clothes, even if he be a very thin man, with attenuated 
and almost imperceptible pockets. 

But where was I going ? 

I will tell. My intention was in the first place, to visit 
Riddough’s Hotel, where my father had stopped, more than 
thirty years before : and then, with the map in my hand, 
follow him through all the town, according to the dotted 
lines in the diagram. For thus would I be performing a 
filial pilgrimage to spots which would be hallowed in my eyes. 

At last, when I found myself going down Old HalLstreet 
toward Lord-street, where the hotel was situated, according 
to my authority ; and when, taking out my map, I found 
that Old Hall-street was marked there, through its whole 
extent with my father’s pen ; a thousand fond, affectionate 
emotions rushed around my heart. 


196 


R E D B U R N ; 


Yes, in this very street, thought I, nay, on this very flag- 
ging my father walked. Then I almost wept, when I 
looked down on my sorry apparel, and marked how the 
people regarded me ; the men staring at so grotesque a young 
stranger, and the old ladies, in heaver hats and ruffles, 
crossing the walk a little to shun me. 

How difierently my father must have appeared ; perhaps 
in a blue coat, huff' vest, and Hessian boots. And little did 
he think, that a son of his would ever visit Liverpool as a 
poor friendless sailor-boy. But I was not born then : no, 
when he walked this flagging, I was not so much as thought 
of ; I was not included in the census of the universe. My 
own father did not know me then ; and had never seen, or 
> heard, or so much as dreamed of me. And that thought 
had a touch of sadness to me ; for if it had certainly been, 
that my own parent, at one time, never cast a thought upon 
me, how might it be with me hereafter ? Poor, poor 
Wellingborough ! thought I, miserable boy ! you are indeed 
friendless and forlorn. Here you wander a stranger in a 
strange town, and the very thought of your father’s having 
been here before you, but carries with it the reflection that, 
he then knew you not, nor oared for you one whit. 

But dispelling these dismal reflections as well as I could, 
I pushed on my way, till I got to Chapel-street, which I 
crossed ; and then, going under a cloister-like arch of stone, 
whose gloom and narrowness delighted me, and filled my 
Yankee soul with romantic thoughts of old Abbeys and 
Minsters, I emerged into the fine quadrangle of the Mer- 
chants’ Exchange. 

There, leaning against the colonnade, I took out my map, 
and traced my father right across Chapel-street, and actually 
through the very arch at my back, into the paved square 
where I stood. 

So vivid was now the impression of his having been here, 
and so narrow the passage from which he had emerged, 
that I felt like running on, and overtaking him round the 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


197 


Town Hall adjoining, at the head of Castle-street. But I 
soon checked myself, when remembering that he had gone 
whither no son’s search could find him in this world. And 
then I thought of all that must have happened to him since 
he paced through that arch. What trials and troubles he 
had encountered ; how he had been shaken by many storms 
of adversity, and at last died a bankrupt. I looked at my 
own sorry garb, and had much ado to keep from tears. 

But I rallied, and gazed round at the sculptured stone- 
work, and turned to my guide-book, and looked at the print 
of the spot. It was correct to a pillar ; but wanted the 
central ornament of the quadrangle. This, however, was 
hut a slight subsequent erection, which ought not to militate 
against the general character of my friend for comprehen- 
siveness. 

The ornament in question is a group of statuary in bronze, 
elevated upon a marble pedestal and basement, representing 
Lord Nelson expiring in the arms of Victory. One foot 
rests on a rolling foe, and the other on a cannon. Victory 
is dropping a wreath on the dying admiral’s brow ; while 
Death, under the similitude of a hideous skeleton, is insinu- 
'ating his bony hand under the hero’s robe, and groping 
after his heart. A very striking design, and true to the 
imagination ; I never could look at Death without a shudder. 

At uniform intervals round the base of the pedestal, four 
naked figures in chains, somewhat larger than life, are seated 
in various attitudes of humiliation and despair. One has 
his leg recklessly thrown over his knee, and his head bowed 
over, as if he had given up all hope of ever feeling better. 
Another has his head buried in despondency, and no doubt 
looks mournfully out of his eyes, but as his face was averted 
at the time, I could not catch the expression. These woe- 
begone figures of captives are emblematic of Nelson’s princi- 
pal victories ; but I never could look at their SAvarthy limbs 
and manacles, without being involuntarily reminded of four 
African slaves in the market-place. 


198 


R E D B U R N : 


And my thoughts would revert to Virginia and Carolina ; 
and also to the historical fact, that the African slave-trade 
once constituted the principal commerce of Liverpool ; and 
that the prosperity of the town was once supposed to have 
been indissolubly linked to its prosecution. And I remem- 
bered that my father had often spoken to gentlemen visiting 
our . house in New York, of the unhappiness that the discus- 
sion of the abolition of this trade had occasioned in Liverpool ; 
that the struggle between sordid interest and humanity had 
made sad havoc at the fire-sides of the merchants ; estranged 
sons from sires ; and even separated husband from wife. 
And my thoughts reverted to my father’s friend, the good 
and great Roscoe, the intrepid enemy of the trade ; who in 
every way exerted his fine talents toward its suppression ; 
'writing a poem the Wrongs of Africa''), several pamph- 
lets ; and in his place in Parliament, he delivered a speech 
against it, which, as coming from a member for Liverpool, 
was supposed to have turned many votes, and had no small 
share in the triumph of sound policy and humanity that 
ensued. 

How this group of statuary affected me, may be inferred 
from the fact, that I never went through Chapel-street with- 
out going through the little arch to look at it again. And 
there, night or day, I was sure to find Lord Nelson still 
falling back ; Victory’s wreath still hovering over his sword- 
point ; and Death grim and grasping as ever ; while the four 
bronze captives still lamented their captivity. 

Now, as I lingered about the railing of the statuary, on 
the Sunday I have mentioned, I noticed several persons 
going in and out of an apartment, opening from the base- 
ment under the colonnade ; and, advancing, I perceived that 
this was a news-room, full of files of papers. My love 
of literature prompted me to open the door and step in ; but 
a glance at my soiled shooting-jacket prompted’ a dignified 
looking personage to step up and shut the door in my face. 
I deliberated a minute what I should do to him ; and at 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


199 


last resolutely determined to let him alone, and pass on ; 
which I did ; going down Castle-street (so called from a 
castle which once stood there, said my guide-book), and 
turning down into Lord. 

Arrived at the foot of the latter street, I in vain looked 
round for the hotel. How serious a disappointment was 
this may well be imagined, when it is considered that I was 
all eagerness to behold the very house at which my father 
stopped ; where he slept and dined, smoked his cigar, opened 
his letters, and read the papers. I inquired of some gentle- 
men and ladies where the missing hotel was ; but they only 
stared and passed on ; until I met a mechanic, apparently, 
who very civilly stopped to hear my questions and give me 
an answer. 

“ Riddough’s Hotel ?” said he, “ upon my word, I think 
I have heard of such a place ; let me see — yes, yes — ^that 
was the hotel where my father broke his arm, helping to pull 
down the walls. My lad, you surely can’t be inquiring for 
Riddough’s Hotel ! What do you want to find there ?” 

“ Oh ! nothing,” I replied, “ I am much obliged for your 
information” — and away I walked. 

Then, indeed, a new light broke in upon me concerning 
my guide-book ; and all my previous dim suspicions were 
almost confirmed. It was nearly half a century behind the 
age ! and no more fit to guide me about the town, than the 
map of Pompeii. 

It was a sad, a solemn, and a most melancholy thought. 
The book on which I had so much relied ; the book in the 
old morocco cover ; the book with the cocked-hat corners ; 
the book full of fine old family associations ; the book with 
seventeen plates, executed in the highest style of art ; this 
precious book was next to useless. Yes, the thing that had 
guided the father, could not guide the son. And I sat down 
911 a shop step, and gave loose to meditation. 

Here, now, oh, Wellingborough, thought I, learn a lesson, 
and never forget it. This world, my boy, is a moving 


200 


REDBURN: 


world ; its Riddough’s Hotels are forever being pulled down ; 
it never stands still ; and its sands are forever shifting. This 
very harbor of Liverpool- is gradually filling up, they say ; 
and who knows what your son (if you ever have one) may 
behold, when he. comes to visit Liverpool, as long after you 
as you come after his grandfather. And, Wellingborough, as 
your father’s guide-book is no guide for you, neither would 
yours (could you afford to buy a modern one to-day) be a 
true guide to those who come after you. Guide-books, 
Wellingborough, are the least reliable books in all literature ; 
and nearly all literature, in one sense, is made up of guide- 
books. Old ones tell us the ways our fathers went, through 
the thoroughfares and courts of old ; but how few of those 
former places can their posterity trace, amid avenues of 
> modern erections ; to how few is the old guide-book now a 
clew ! Every age makes its own guide-books, and the old 
ones are used for waste paper. But there is one Holy Guide- 
Book, Wellingborough, that will never lead you astray, if 
you but follow it aright ; and some noble monuments that 
remain, though the pyramids crumble. 

But though I rose from the door-step a sadder and a 
wiser boy, and though my guide-book had been stripped of 
its reputation for infallibility, I did not treat with contumely 
or disdain, those sacred pages which had once been a beacon 
to my sire. 

No. — Poor old guide-book, thought I, tenderly stroking 
its back, and smoothing the dog-ears with reverence ; I will 
not use you with despite, old Morocco ! and you will yet 
prove a trusty conductor through many old streets in the old 
parts of this town ; even if you are at fault, now and then, 
concerning a Riddough’s Hotel, or some other forgotten thing 
of the past. 

As I fondly glanced over the leaves, like one who loves 
more than he chides, my eye lighted upon a passage con- 
cerning “ The Old Dock,'" which much aroused my curiosity. 
I determined to see the place without delay : and walking 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


20] 


on, in what I presumed to be the ' right direction, at last 
found myself before a spacious and splendid pile of sculptured 
brown stone ; and entering the porch, perceived from incon- 
trovertible tokens that it must be the Custom-house. After 
admiring it awhile, I took out my guide-book again ; and 
what was my amazement at discovering that, according to 
its authority, I was entire] y mistaken with regard to this 
Custom-house; for precisely where I stood, “ The Old Dock'" 
must be standing. And reading on concerning it, I met 
with this very apposite passage : — “ The first idea that 
strikes the stranger in coming to this dock, is the singular- 
ity of so great a number of ships afloat in the very heart 
of the town, ivithout discovering ariy connection with the 
sea'' 

Here, now, was a poser ! Old Morocco confessed that 
there was a good deal of “ singularity” about the thing ; nor 
did he pretend to deny that it was, without question, amaz- 
ing, that this fabulous dock should seem to have no connec- 
tion with the sea I However, the same author went on to 
say, that the “ astonished stranger must suspend his ivon- 
der for awhile, and turn to the left." But, right or left, 
no place answering to the description was to be seen. 

This was too confounding altogether, and not to be easily 
accounted for, even by making ordinary allowances for the 
growth and general improvement of the town in the course 
of years. So, guide-book in hand, I accosted a police- 
man standing by, and begged him to tell me whether he 
was acquainted with any place in that neighborhood called 
the “ Old Dock." The man looked at me wonderingly at 
first, and then seeing I was apparently sane, and quite civil 
into the bargain, he whipped his well-polished boot with his 
rattan, pulled up his silver-laced coat-collar, and initiated 
me into a knowledge of the following facts. 

It seems that in this place originally stood the pool," 
from which the town borrows a part of its name, and which 
originally wound round the greater part of the old settle- 

I* 


202 


R E D B U R N ; 


ments ; that this pool was made into the “Old Dock,” for 
the benefit of the shipping ; but that, years ago, it had been 
filled up, and furnished the site for the Custom-house be- 
fore me. 

I now eyed the spot with a feeling somewhat akin to the 
Eastern traveler standing on the brink of the Dead Sea. For 
here the doom of Gomorrah seemed reversed, and a lake had 
been converted into substantial stone and mortar. 

Well, well, Wellingborough, ‘thought I, you had better 
put the book into your pocket, and carry it home to the 
Society of Antiquaries ; it is several thousand leagues and 
odd furlongs behind the march of improvement. Smell its 
old morocco binding, Wellingborough ; does it not smell 
somewhat mummyish ? Does it not remind you of Cheops 
' and the Catacombs ? I tell you it was written before the 
lost books of Livy, and is cousin-german to that irrecoverably 
departed volume, entitled, “TAe Wars of the Lordf quoted 
by Moses in the Pentateuch. Put it up, Wellingborough, 
put it up, my dear friend ; and hereafter follow your nose 
throughout Liverpool ; it will stick to you through thick 
and thin : and be your ship’s mainmast and St. George’s 
spire your landmarks. 

No ! — And again I rubbed its back softly, and gently 
adjusted a loose leaf : No, no. I’ll not give you up yet. 
Forth, old Morocco ! and lead me in sight of the venerable 
Abbey of Birkenhead ; and let these eager eyes behold the 
mansion once occupied by the old earls of Derby ! 

For the book discoursed of both places, and told how the 
Abbey was on the Cheshire shore, full in view from a point 
on the Lancashire side, covered over with ivy, and brilliant 
with moss ! And how the house of the noble Derbys’ was 
now a common jail of the town; and how that circumstance 
was full of suggestions, and pregnant with wisdom ! * 

But, alas ! I never saw the Abbey ; at least none was in 
sight from the water : and as for the house of the earls, I 
never saw that. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


203 


Ah me, and ten times alas ! am I to visit old England 
in vain? in the land of Thomas-a-Becket and stout John 
of Gaunt, not to catch the least glimpse of priory or castle ? 
Is there nothing in all the British empire but these smoky 
ranges of old shops and warehouses ? is Liverpool but a brick- 
kiln ? Why, no buildings here look so ancient as the old 
gable-pointed mansion of my maternal grandfather at home, 
whose bricks were brought from Holland long before the 
revolutionary war ! ’Tis a deceit — a gull — a sham — a hoax ! 
This boasted England is no older than the State of New 
York : if it is, show me the proofs — point out the vouchers. 
Where’s the tower of Julius Csesar ? Where’s the Roman 
wall ? Show me Stonehenge ! 

But, Wellingborough, I remonstrated with myself, you 
are only in Liverpool ; the old monuments lie to the north, 
south, east, and west of you ; you are but a sailor-boy, and 
you can not expect to be a great tourist, and visit the antiqui- 
ties, in that preposterous shooting-jacket of yours. Indeed, 
you can not, my boy. 

True, true — that’s it. I am not the traveler my father 
was. I am only a common-carrier across the Atlantic. 

After a weary day’s walk, I at last arrived at the sign 
of the Baltimore Clipper to supper ; and Handsome Mary 
poured me out a brimmer of tea, in which, for the time, I 
drowned all my melancholy. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE DOCKS. 

For more than six weeks, the ship Highlander lay in 
Prince’s Dock ; and during that time, besides making observ- 
ations upon things immediately around me, I made sundry 
excursions to the neighboring docks, for I never tired of 
admiring them. 

Previous to this, having only seen the miserable wooden 
wharves, and slip-shod, shambling piers of New York, the 
' sight of these mighty docks filled my young mind with 
wonder and delight. In New York, to be sure, I could not 
but be struck with the long line of shipping, and tangled 
thicket of masts along the East River ; yet, my admiration 
had been much abated by those irregular, unsightly wharves, 
which, I am sure, are a reproach and disgrace to the city 
that tolerates them. 

Whereas, in Liverpool, I beheld long China walls of 
masonry ; vast piers of stone ; and a succession of granite- 
rimmed docks, completely inclosed, and many of them com- 
municating, which almost recalled to mind the great Amer- 
ican chain of lakes : Ontario, Erie, St. Clair, Huron, 
Michigan, and Superior. The extent and solidity of these 
structures, seemed equal to what I had read of the old 
Pyramids of Egypt. 

Liverpool may justly claim to have originated the model 
of the Wet Dock,=^ so called, of the present day ; and every 

* This term Wet Dock did not originate, (as has been erroneously 
opined by the otherwise learned Bardoldi) ; from the fact, that persons 
falling into one, never escaped without a soaking ; but it is simply 
used, in order to distinguish these docks from the Dry-Dock^ where 
the bottoms of ships are repaired. ’ 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


205 


thing that is connected with its design, construction, reg- 
ulation, and improvement. Even London was induced to 
copy after Liverpool, and Havre followed her exam- 
ple. In magnitude, cost, and durability, the docks of 
Liverpool, even at the present day surpass all others in the 
world. 

The first dock built by the town was the “ Old Dock,'' • 
alluded to in my Sunday stroll with my guide-book. This 
was erected in 1710, since which period has gradually 
arisen that long line of dock-masonry, now flanking the 
Liverpool side of the Mersey. 

For miles you may walk along that river-side, passing 
dock after dock, like a chain of immense fortresses : — 
Prince’s, George’s, Salt-House, Clarence, Brunswick, Trafal- 
gar, King’s, Queen’s, and many more. 

In a spirit of patriotic gratitude to those naval heroes, 
who by their valor did so much to protect the commerce of 
Britain, in which Liverpool held so large a stake ; the town, 
long since, bestowed upon its more modern streets, certain 
illustrious names, that Broadway might be proud of : — 
Duncan, Nelson, Rodney, St. Vincent, Nile. 

But it is a pity, I think, that they had not bestowed 
these noble names upon their noble docks ; so that they 
might have been as a rank and file of most fit monuments 
to perpetuate the names of the heroes, in connection with the 
commerce they defended. 

And how much better would such stirring monuments 
be-; full of life and commotion ; than hermit obelisks of 
Luxor, and idle towers of stone ; which, useless to the 
world in themselves, vainly hope to eternize a name, by 
having it carved, solitary and alone, in their granite. Such 
monuments are cenotaphs indeed ; founded far away from 
the true body of the fame, of the hero ; who, if he be truly a 
hero, must still be linked with the living interests of his 
race ; for the true fame is something 'free, easy, social, and 
companionable. They are but tomb-stones, that commemo- 


206 


K E D B U R N : 


rate his death, hut celebrate not his life. It is well enough 
that over the inglorious and thrice miserable grave of a 
Dives, some vast marble column should be reared, recording 
the fact of his having lived and died ; for such records are 
indispensable to preserve his shrunken memory among men ; 
though that memory must soon crumble away with the 
marble, and mix with the stagnant oblivion of the mob. But 
to build such a pompous vanity over the remains of a hero, 
is a slur upon his fame, and an insult to his ghost. And 
more enduring monuments are built in the closet with the 
letters of the alphabet, than even Cheops himself could have 
founded, with all Egypt and Nubia for his quarry. 

Among the few docks mentioned above, occur the names 
^ of the King's and Queen! s. At the time, they often re- 
minded me of the two principal streets in the village I came 
from in America, which streets once rejoiced in the same 
royal appellations. But they had been christened previous 
to the Declaration of Independence ; and some years after, 
in a fever of freedom, they were abolished, at an enthusiastic 
town-meeting, where King George and his lady were sol- 
emnly declared unworthy of being immortalized by the vil- 
lage of L . A country antiquary once told me, that a 

committee of two barbers were deputed to write and inform 
the distracted old gentleman of the fact. 

As the description of any one of these Liverpool docks 
will pretty much answer for all, I will here endeavor to 
give some account of Prince’s Dock, where the Highlander 
rested after her passage across the Atlantic. 

This dock, of comparatively recent construction, is per- 
haps the largest of all, and is well known to American sail- 
ors, from the fact, that it is mostly frequented by the Amer- 
ican shipping. Here lie the noble New York packets, which 
at home are found at the foot of 'Wall-street ; and here lie 
the Mobile and Savannah cotton ships and traders. 

This dock was built like the others, mostly upon the bed 
of the river, the earth and rock having been laboriously 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


207 


scooped out, and solidified again as materials for the quays 
and piers. 

From the river, Prince’s Dock is protected by a long 
pier of masonry, surmounted by a massive wall ; and on 
the side next the town, it is hounded by similar walls, one 
of which runs along a thoroughfare. The whole space ' 
thus inclosed forms an oblong, and may, at a guess, be 
presumed to comprise about fifteen or twenty acres ; but as 
I had not the rod of a surveyor when I took it in, I will 
not be certain. 

The area of the dock itself, exclusive of the inclosed 
quays surrounding it, may he estimated at, say, ten acres. 
Access to the interior from the streets is had through sev- 
eral gateways ; so that, upon their being closed, the whole 
dock is shut up like a house. From the river, the entrance 
is through a water-gate, and ingress to ships is only to be 
had, when the level of the dock coincides with that of the 
river ; that is, about the time of high tide, as the level of 
the dock is always at that mark. So that when it is low 
tide in the river, the keels of the ships inclosed by the quays 
are elevated more than twenty feet above those of the ves- 
sels in the stream. This, of course, produces a striking 
effect to a stranger, to see hundreds of immense ships float- 
ing high aloft in the heart of a mass of masonry. 

Prince’s Dock is generally so filled with shipping, that 
the entrance of a new-comer is apt to occasion a universal 
stir among all the older occupants. The dock-masters, 
whose authority is declared by tin signs worn conspicuously 
over their hats, mount the poops and forecastles of the va- 
rious vessels, and hail the surrounding strangers in all direc- 
tions : — Highlander ahoy ! Cast off your boiv-line, and 
sheer alongside the Neptune Neptune ahoy! get 

out a stern-line, and sheer alongside the Trident!^' — 

“ Trident ahoy ! get out a how-line, and drop astern of 
the Undaunted r And so it runs round like a shock of 
electricity ; touch one, and you touch all. This kind of 


208 


RE DBURN: 


work irritates and exasperates the sailors to the last degree ;• 
but it is only one of the unavoidable inconveniences of in- 
closed docks, which are outweighed by innumerable advant- 
ages. 

Just without the water-gate, is a basin, always connect- 
ing with the open river, through a narrow entrance between 
pier-heads. This basin forms a sort of ante-chamber to the 
dock itself, where vessels lie waiting their turn to enter. 
During a storm, the necessity of this basin is obvious ; for 
it would be impossible to a ship under full headway 

from a voyage across the ocean. From the turbulent waves, 
she first glides into the ante-chamber between the pier-heads, 
and from thence into the docks. 

Concerning the cost of the docks, I can only state, that 
the King's Dock, comprehending but a comparatively small 
area, was completed at an expense of some X20,000. 

Our old ship-keeper, a Liverpool man by birth, who had 
long followed the seas, related a curious story concerning this 
dock. One of the ships which carried over troops from En- 
gland to Ireland in King William’s war, ih 1688, entered 
the King’s Dock on the first day of its being opened in 1788, 
after an interval of just one century. She was a dark little 
brig, called the Port-a-Ferry. And probably, as her tim- 
bers must have been frequently renewed in the course of a 
hundred years, the name alone nould have been all that was 
left of her at the time. 

A paved area, very wide, is included within the walls ; 
and along the edge of the quays are ranges of iron sheds, 
intended as a temporary shelter for the goods unladed from 
the shipping. Nothing can exceed the bustle and activity 
displayed along these quays during the day ; bales, crates, 
boxes, and cases are being tumbled about by thousands of 
laborers ; trucks are coming and going ; dock-masters are 
shouting ; sailors of all nations are singing out at their ropes ; 
and all this commotion is greatly increased by the resound- 
ings from the lofty walls that hem in the din. 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE SALT-DROGHERS, AND GERMAN EMIGRANT SHIPS. 

Surrounded by its broad belt of masonry, each Liverpool 
dock is a walled town, full of life and commotion ; or rather, 
it is a small archipelago, an epitome of the world, where all 
the nations of Christendom, and even those of Heathendom, 
are represented. For, in itself, each ship is an island, a 
floating colony of the tribe to which it belongs. 

Here are brought together the remotest limits of the earth ; 
and in the collective spars and timbers of these ships, all the 
forests of the globe are represented, as in a grand parliament 
of masts. Canada and New Zealand send their pines ; 
America her live oak ; India her teak ; Norway her spruce ; 
and the Right Honorable Mahogany, member for Honduras 
and Campeachy, is seen at his post by the wheel. Here, 
under the beneficent sway of the Genius of Commerce, all 
climes and countries embrace ; and yard-arm touches yard- 
arm in brotherly love. 

A Liverpool dock is a grand caravansary inn, and hotel, 
on the spacious and liberal plan of the Astor House. Here 
ships are lodged at a moderate charge, and payment is not 
demanded till the time of departure. Here they are com- 
fortably housed and provided for ; sheltered from all weathers 
and secured from all calamities. For I can hardly credit 
a story I have heard, that sometimes, in heavy gales, ships 
lying in the very middle of the docks have lost their top- 
gallant-masts. Whatever the toils and hardships encount- 
ered on the voyage, whether they come from Iceland or the 
coast of New Guinea, here their sufferings are ended, and 
they take their ease in their watery inn. 


210 


E E D B U R N : 


I know not how many hours I spent in gazing at the 
shipping in Prince’s Dock, and speculating concerning their 
past voyages and future prospects in life. Some had just 
arrived from the most distant ports, worn, battered, and dis- 
abled ; others were all a-taunt-o — spruce, gay, and brilliant, ' 
in readiness for sea. 

Every day the Highlander had some new neighbor. A 
black brig from Glasgow, with its crew of sober Scotch 
caps, and its staid, thrifty-looking skipper, would be replaced 
by a jovial French hermaphrodite, its forecastle echoing with 
songs, and its quarter-deck elastic from much dancing. 

On the other side, perhaps, a magnificent New York 
Liner, huge as a seventy-four, and suggesting the idea of a 
Mivart’s or Delmonico’s afloat, would give way to a Sidney 
emigrant ship, receiving on board its live freight of shep- 
herds from the Grampians, ere long to be tending their flocks 
on the hills and downs of New Holland. 

I was particularly pleased and tickled, with a multitude 
of little salt-droghers, rigged like sloops, and not much bigger 
than a pilot-boat, but with broad bows painted black, and 
carrying red sails, which looked as if they had been pickled 
and stained in a tan-yard. These little fellows were con- 
tinually coming in with their cargoes for ships bound to 
America ; and lying, five or six together, alongside of those 
lofty Yankee hulls, resembled a parcel of red ants about the 
carcass of a black buffalo. 

When loaded, these comical little craft are about level 
with the water ; and frequently, when blowing fresh in the 
river, I have seen them flying through the foam with noth- 
ing visible but the mast and sail, and a man at the tiller ; 
their entire cargo being snugly secured under hatches. 

It was diverting to observe the self-importance of the 
skipper of any of these diminutive vessels. He would give 
himself all the airs of an admiral on a three-decker’s poop ; 
and no doubt, thought quite as much of himself And why 
not ? What could Caesar want more ? Though his craft 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


211 


was none of the largest, it was subject to him ; and though 
his crew might only consist of himself ; yet, if he governed 
it well, he achieved a triumph, which the moralists of all 
ages have set above the victories of Alexander. 

These craft have each a little cabin, the prettiest, charm- 
ingest, most delightful little dog-hole in the world ; not much 
bigger than an old fashioned alcove for a bed. It is lighted 
by little round glasses placed in the deck ; so that to the 
insider, the ceiling is like a small firmament twinkling with 
astral radiations. For tall men, nevertheless, the place is 
but ill-adapted ; a sitting, or recumbent position being indis- 
pensable to an occupancy of the premises. Yet small, low, 
and narrow as the cabin is, somehow, it affords accommoda- 
tions to the skipper and his family. Often, I used to watch 
the tidy good-wife, seated at the open little scuttle, like a 
woman at a cottage door, engaged in knitting socks for her 
husband ; or perhaps, cutting his hair, as he kneeled before 
her. And once, while marveling how a couple like this 
found room to turn in, below ; I was amazed by a noisy 
irruption of cherry-cheeked young tars from the scuttle, 
whence they came rolling forth, like so many curly spaniels 
from a kennel. 

Upon one occasion, I had the curiosity to go on board a 
salt-drogher, and fall into conversation with its skipper, a 
bachelor, who kept house all alone. I found him a very 
sociable, comfortable old fellow, who had an eye to having 
things cozy around him. It was in the evening ; and he 
invited me down into his sanctum to supper ; and there we 
sat together like a couple in a box at an oyster-cellar. 

“ He, he,” he chuckled, kneeling down before a fat, moist, 
little cask of beer, and holding a cocked-hat pitcher to the 
faucet — “You see. Jack, I keep every thing down here; 
and nice times I have by myself * Just before going to bed, 
it ain’t bad to take a nightcap, you know ; eh ! J ack ? — 
here now, smack your lips over that, my boy — have a pipe ? 
— but stop, let’s to supper first.” 


212 


R E D B U R N : 


So he went to a little locker, a fixture against the side, 
and groping in it awhile, and addressing it with — “ What 
cheer here, ivhat cheer at last produced a loaf, a small 
cheese, a bit of ham, and a jar of butter. And then placing 
a board on his lap, spread the table, the pitcher of beer in 
the center. 

“ Why that’s hut a two legged table,” said I, “ let’s 
make it four.” 

So we divided the burthen, and supped merrily together 
on our knees. 

He was an old ruby of a fellow, his cheeks toasted brown ; 
and it did my soul good, to see the froth of the beer bubbling 
at his mouth, and sparkling on his nut-brown beard. He 
looked so like a great mug of ale, that I almost felt like 
' taking him by the neck and pouring him out. 

“ Now Jack,” said he, when supper was over, “ now 
Jack, my hoy, do you smoke? — Well then, load away.” 
And he handed me a seal-skin pouch of tobacco and a pipe. 
We sat smoking together in this little sea-cabinet of his, till 
it began to look much like a state-room in Tophet ; and 
notwithstanding my host’s rubicund nose, I could hardly see 
him for the fog. 

He, he, my boy,” then said he — “ I don’t never have 
any bugs here, I tell ye : I smokes ’em all out every night 
before going to bed.” 

“ And where may you sleep ?” said I, looking round, and 
seeing no sign of a bed. 

“ Sleep ?” says he, “ why I sleep in my jacket, that’s the 
best counterpane ; and I use my head for a pillow. He-he, 
funny, ain’t it ?” 

“ Very funny,” says I. 

“ Have some more ale ?” says he ; “ plenty more.” 

“No more, thank you,” says I; “I guess I’ll go;” for 
what with the tobacco-smoke and the ale, I began to feel 
like breathing fresh air. Besides, my conscience smote me 
for thus freely indulging in the pleasures of the table. 


213 




MIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


“ Now, don’t go,” said he ; “ don’t go, my boy ; don’t go 
out into the damp ; take an old Christian’s advice,” laying 
his hand on my shoulder ; “ it won’t do. You see, by going 
out now, you’ll shake off the ale, and get broad awake again ; 
but if you stay here, you’ll soon be dropping off for a nice 
little nap.” 

■ But notwithstanding these inducements, I shook my host’s 
hand and departed. 

There was hardly any thing I witnessed in the docks that 
interested me more than the German emigrants who come 
on board the large New York ships several days before their 
sailing, to make every thing comfortable ere starting. Old 
men, tottering with age, and little infants in arms : laugh- 
ing girls in bright-buttoned bodices, and astute, middle-aged 
men with pictured pipes in their mouths, would be seen 
mingling together in crowds of five, six, and seven or eight 
hundred in one ship. 

Every evening these countrymen of Luther and Melanc- 
thon gathered on the forecastle to sing and pray. And it 
was exalting to listen to their fine ringing anthems, rever- 
berating among the crowded shipping, and rebounding from 
the lofty walls of the docks. Shut your eyes, and you would 
think you were in a cathedral. 

They keep up this custom at sea ; and every night, in the 
dog-watch, sing the songs of Zion to the roll of the great 
ocean-organ : a pious custom of a devout race, who thus send 
over their hallelujahs before them, as they hie to the land of 
the stranger. 

And among these sober Germans, my country counts the 
most orderly and valuable of her foreign population. It is 
they who have swelled the census of her Northwestern 
States ; and transferring their ploughs from the hills of Tran- 
sylvania to the prairies of Wisconsin ; and sowing the wheat 
of the Rhine on the banks of the Ohio, raise the grain, that, 
a hundred fold increased, may return to their kinsmen in 
Europe. 


214 


REDBURN: 


There is something in the contemplation of the mode in 
which America has been settled, that, in a noble breast, 
should forever extinguish the prejudices of national, dislikes. 

Settled by the people of all nations, all nations may claim 
her for their own. You can not spill a drop of American 
blood without spilling the blood of the whole world. Be he 
Englishman, Frenchman, German, Dane, or Scot; the Euro- 
pean who scoffs at an American, calls his own brother Raca, 
and stands in danger of the judgment. We are not a nar- 
row tribe of men, with a bigoted Hebrew nationality — 
whose blood has been debased in the attempt to ennoble it, 
by maintaining an exclusive succession among ourselves. 
No : our blood is as the flood of the Amazon, made up of a 
^ thousand noble currents all pouring into one. We are not 
a nation, so much as a world ; for unless we may claim all 
the world for our sire, like Melchisedec, we are without 
father or mother. 

For who was our father and our mother ? Or can we 
point to any Romulus and Remus for our founders ? Our 
ancestry is lost in the universal paternity ; and Csesar and 
Alfred, St. Paul and Luther, and Homer and Shakspeare 
are as much ours as Washington, who is as much the world’s 
as our own. We are the heirs of all time, and with all 
nations we divide our inheritance. On this Western Hemi- 
sphere all tribes and people are forming into one federated 
whole ; and there is a future which shall see the estranged 
children of Adam restored as to the old hearth-stone in Eden. 

The other world beyond this, which was longed for by 
the devout before Columbus’ time, was found in the New ; 
and the deep-sea-lead, that first struck these soundings, 
brought up the soil of Earth’s Paradise. Not a Paradise 
then, or now ; but to be made so, at God’s good pleasure, 
and in the fullness and mellowness of time. The seed is 
sown, and the harvest must come ; and our childrens’ chil- 
dren, on the world’s jubilee morning, shall all go with their 
sickles to the reaping. Then shall the curse of Babel be 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


215 


revoked, a new Pentecost come, and the language they shall 
speak shall he the language of Britain. Frenchmen, and 
Danes, and Scots ; and the dwellers on the shores of the 
Mediterranean, and in the regions round about ; Italians, 
and Indians, and Moors : there shall appear unto them 
cloven tongues as of fire. 




CHAPTER XXXIV. 


THE IRRAWADDY. 

Among- the various ships lying in Prince’s Dock, none 
interested me more than the Irrawaddy, of Bombay, a 
'■^country which is the name bestowed by Europeans 

upon the large native vessels of India. Forty years ago, 
these merchantmen were nearly the largest in the world ; 
> and' they still exceed the generality. They are built of 
the celebrated teak wood, the oak of the East, or in Eastern 
phrase, ^^the King of the Oaks.'' 

The Irrawaddy had just arrived from Hindostan, with a 
cargo of cotton. She was manned by forty or fifty Lascars, 
the native seamen of India, who seemed to be immediately 
governed by a countryman of theirs of a higher caste. While 
his inferiors went about in strips of white linen, this dignitary 
was arrayed in a red army-coat, brilliant with gold lace, a 
cocked hat, and drawn sword. But the general effect was 
quite spoiled by his bare feet. 

In discharging the cargo, his business seemed to consist in 
flagellating the crew with the flat of his saber, an exercise 
in which long practice had made him exceedingly expert. 
The poor fellows jumped away with the tackle-rope, elastic 
as cats. 

One Sunday, I went aboard of the Irrawaddy, when this 
oriental usher accosted me at the gangway, with his sword 
at my throat. I gently pushed it aside, making a sign ex- 
pressive of the pacific character of my motives in paying a 
visit to the ship. Whereupon he very considerately let me 
pass. 

I thought I was in Pegu, so strangely woody was the 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


217 


smell of the dark-colored timbers, whose odor was heightened 
by the rigging of kayar, or cocoa-nut fiber. 

The Lascars were on the forecastle-deck. Among them 
were Malays, Mahrattas, Burmese, Siamese, and Cingalese. 
They were seated round “kids” full of rice, from which, ac- 
cording to their invariable custom, they helped themselves 
with one hand, the other being reserved for quite another « 
purpose. They were chattering like magpies in Hindostanee, 
but I found that several of them could also speak very good 
English. They were a small-limbed, wiry, tawny set; and 
I was informed made excellent seamen, though ill adapted 
to stand the hardships of northern voyaging. 

They told me that seven of their number had died on the 
passage from Bombay ; two or three after crossing the tropic 
of Cancer, and the rest met their fate in the Channel, where 
the ship had been tost about in violent seas, attended with 
cold rains, peculiar to that vicinity. Two more had been 
lost overboard from the flying-jib-boom. 

I was condoling with a young English cabin-boy on board, 
upon the loss of these poor fellows, when he said it was their 
own fault; they would never wear monkey-jackets, but clung 
to their thin India robes, even in the bitterest weather. He 
talked about them much as a farmer would about the loss 
of so many sheep by the murrain. 

The captain of the vessel was an Englishman, as were 
also the three mates, master, and boatswain. These officers 
lived astern in the cabin, where every Sunday they read the 
Church of England’s prayers, while the heathen at the other 
end of the ship were left to their false gods and idols. And 
thus, with Christianity on the quarter-deck, and paganism 
on the forecastle, the Irrawaddy ploughed the sea. 

As if to symbolize this state of things, the fancy ‘piece''* 
astern comprised, among numerous other carved decorations, 
a cross and a miter ; while forward, on the bows, was a sort 
of devil for a figure-head — a dragon-shaped creature, with a 
fiery red mouth, and a switchy-looking tail 


218 


REDBURN; 


Afte^r her cargo was discharged, which was done “ to the 
sound of flutes and soft recorders” — something as work is 
done in the navy to the music of the boatswain’s pipe — the 
Lascars were set to stripping the ship;'' that is, to sending 
down all her spars and ropes. 

At this time, she lay alongside of us, and the Babel on 
board almost drowned our own voices. In nothing but their 
girdles, the Lascars hopped about aloft, chattering like so 
many monkeys ; but, nevertheless, showing much dexterity 
and seamanship in their manner of doing their work. 

Every Sunday, crowds of well-dressed people came down 
to the dock to see this singular ship : many of them perched 
themselves in the shrouds of the neighboring craft, much to 
^the wrath of Captain Riga, who left strict orders with our 
old ship-keeper, to drive all strangers out of the Highlander’s 
rigging. It was amusing at these times, to watch the old 
women with umbrellas, who stood on the quay staring at 
the Lascars, even when they desired to be private. These 
inquisitive old ladies seemed to regard the strange sailors as 
a species of wild animal, whom they might gaze at with as 
much impunity, as at leopards in the Zoological Gardens. 

One night I was returning to the ship, when just as I 
was passing through the Dock Gate, I noticed a white figure 
squatting against the wall outside. It proved to be one of 
the Lascars who was smoking, as the regulations of the docks 
prohibit his indulging this luxury on board his vessel. Struck 
with the curious fashion of his pipe, and the odor from it, 
I inquired what he was smoking; he replied ^^Joggerry'' 
which is a species of weed, used in place of tobacco. 

Finding that he spoke good English, and was quite com- 
municative, like most smokers, I sat down by Dallahdool- 
manSj as he called himself, and we fell into conversation. 
So instructive was his discourse, that when we parted, I 
had considerably added to my stock of knowledge. Indeed, 
it is a God-send to fall in with a fellow like this. He knows 
things you never dreamed of ; his experiences are like a man 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


219 


from the moon — wholly strange, a new revelation. If you 
want to learn romance, or gain an insight into things quaint, 
curious, and marvelous, drop your hooks of travel, and take 
a stroll along the docks of a great commercial port. Ten 
to one, you will encounter Crusoe himself among the crowds 
of mariners from all parts of the globe. 

But this is no place for making mention of all the subjects 
upon which I and my Lascar friend mostly discoursed ; I 
will only try to give his account of the teak-ivood and kayar 
rope, concerning which things I was curious, and sought in- 
formation. 

The “ sagoon,^^ as he called the tree which produces the 
teak, grows in its greatest excellence among the mountains 
of Malabar, whence large quantities are sent to Bombay for 
ship-building. He also spoke of another kind of wood, the 
“ swsor,” which supplies most of the “ shin-logs,'" or knees," 
and crooked timbers in the country ships. The sagoon 
grows to an immense size ; sometimes there is fifty feet of 
trunk, three feet through, before a single bough is put forth. 
Its leaves are very large ; and to convey some idea of them, 
my Lascar likened them to elephants’ ears. He said a 
purple dye was extracted from them, for the purpose of 
staining cottons and silks. The wood is specifically heavier 
than water ; it is easily worked, and extremely strong and 
durable. But its chief merit lies in resisting the action of 
the salt water, and the attacks of insects ; which resistance 
is caused by its containing a resinous oil called poonja." 

To my surprise, he informed me that the Irrawaddy was 
wholly built by the native shipwrights of India, who, he 
modestly asserted, surpassed the European artisans. 

The rigging, also, was of native manufacture. As the 
kayar, of which it is composed, is now getting into use both 
in England and America, as well for ropes and rigging as 
for mats and rugs, my Lascar friend’s account of it, joined 
to my own observations, may not be uninteresting. 

In India, it is prepared very much in the same way 41s 


220 


RED BURN: 


in Polynesia. ^ The cocoa-nut is gathered while the husk is 
still green, and but partially ripe ; and this husk is removed 
by striking the nut forcibly, with both hands, upon a sharp- 
pointed stake, planted uprightly in the ground. In this way 
a boy will strip nearly fifteen hundred in a day. But the 
kayar is not made from the husk, as might be supposed, but 
from the rind of the nut ; which, after being long soaked in 
water, is beaten with mallets, and rubbed together into fibers. 
After this being dried in the sun, you may spin it, just like 
hemp, or any similar substance. The fiber thus produced 
makes very strong and durable ropes, extremely well adapt- 
ed, from their lightness and durability, for the running rigging 
of a ship ; while the same causes, united with its great 
' strength and buoyancy, render it very suitable for large cables 
and hawsers. 

But the elasticity of the kayar ill fits it for the shrouds 
and standing-rigging of a ship, which require to be compara- 
tively firm. Hence, as the Irrawaddy’s shrouds were all of 
this substance, the Lascar told me, they were continually 
setting up or slacking off her standing-rigging, according as 
the weather was cold or warm. And the loss of a foretop- 
mast, between the tropics, in a squall, he attributed to this 
circumstance. 

After a stay of about two weeks, the Irrawaddy had her 
heavy Indian spars replaced with Canadian pine, and her 
kayar shrouds with hempen ones. She then mustered her 
pagans, and hoisted sail for London. 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

GALLIOTS, COAST-OF-GUINEA-MAN, AND FLOATING CHAPEL. 

Another very curious craft often seen in the Liverpool 
docks, is the Dutch galliot, an old-fashioned looking gentle- 
man, with hollow waist, high prow and stern, and which, 
seen lying among crowds of tight Yankee traders, and pert 
French brigantines, always reminded me of a cocked hat 
among modish beavers. 

The construction of the galliot has not altered for centu- 
ries ; and the northern European nations, Danes and Dutch, 
still sail the salt seas in this flat-bottomed salt-cellar of a 
ship ; although, in addition to these, they have vessels of a 
more modern kind. 

They seldom paint the galliot ; but scrape and varnish all 
its planks and spars, so that all over it resembles the 
“ bright side,^' or polished streaky usually banding round an 
American ship. 

Some of them are kept scrupulously neat and clean, and 
remind one of a well-scrubbed wooden platter, or an old oak 
table, upon which much wax and elbow vigor has been ex- 
pended. Before the ’wind, they sail well ; but on a bowline, 
owing to their broad hulls and flat bottoms, they make lee- 
way at a sad rate. 

Every day, some strange vessel entered Prince’s Dock ; 
and hardly would I gaze my fill at some outlandish craft 
from Surat or the Levant, ere a still more outlandish one 
would absorb my attention. 

Among others, I remember, was a little brig from the 
Coast of Guinea. In appearance, she was the ideal of a 


222 


R E D B U R N : 


slaver ; low, black, clipper-built about the bows, and her 
decks in a state of most piratical disorder. 

She carried a long, rusty gun, on a swivel, amid-ships ; 
and that gun was a curiosity in itself. It must have been 
some old veteran, condemned by the government, and sold 
for any thing it would fetch. It was an antique, covered 
with half-effaced inscriptions, crowns, anchors, eagles ; and 
it had two handles near the trunnions, like those of a tureen. 
The knob on the breach was fashioned into a dolphin’s head ; 
and by a comical conceit, the touch-hole formed the orifice 
of a human ear ; and a stout tympanum it must have had, 
to have withstood the concussions it had heard. 

The brig, heavily loaded, lay between two large ships in 
ballast ; so that its deck was at least twenty feet below 
those of its neighbors. Thus shut in, its hatchways looked 
like the entrance to deep vaults or mines ; especially as her 
men were wheeling out of her hold some kind of ore, which 
might have been gold ore, so scrupulous were they in even- 
ing the bushel measures, in which they transferred it to the 
quay ; and so particular was the captain, a dark-skinned 
whiskerando, in a Maltese cap and tassel, in standing over 
the sailors, with his pencil and memorandum-book in hand. 

The crew were a bucaniering looking set ; with hairy 
chests, purple shirts, and arms wildly tattooed. The mate 
had a wooden leg, and hobbled about with a crooked cane 
like a spiral staircase. There was a deal of swearing on 
board of this craft, which was rendered the more reprehensi- 
ble when she came to moor alongside the Floating Chapel. 

This was the hull of an old sloop-of-war, which had been 
converted into a mariner’s church. A house had been built 
upon it, and a steeple took the place of a mast. There was 
a little balcony near the base of the steeple, some twenty 
feet from the water ; where, on week-days, I used to see an 
old pensioner of a tar, sitting on a camp-stool, reading his 
Bible. On Sundays he hoisted the Bethel flag, and like the 
muezzin or cryer of prayers on the top of a Turkish mosque, 


HIS ICIEST VOYAGE. 


223 


would call the strolling sailors to their devotions ; not official- 
ly, but on his own account ; conjuring them not to make fools 
of themselves, but muster round the pulpit, as they did about 
the capstan on a man-of-war. This old worthy was the 
sexton. I attended the chtipel several times, and found 
there a very orderly hut small congregation. The first 
time I went, the chaplain was discoursing of future punish- 
ments, and making allusions to the Tartarean Lake ; which, 
coupled with the pitchy smell of the old hull, summoned 
up the most forcible image of the thing which I ever ex- 
perienced. 

The floating chapels which are to be found in some of the 
docks, form one of the means which have been tried to in- 
duce the seamen visiting Liverpool to turn their thoughts 
toward serious things. But as very few of them ever think 
of entering these chapels, though they might pass them 
twenty times in the day, some of the clergy, of a Sunday, 
address them in the open air, from the corners of the quays, 
or wherever they can procure an audience. 

Whenever, in my Sunday strolls, I caught sight of one 
of these congregations, I always made a point of joining it ; 
and would find myself surrounded by a motley crowd of sea- 
men from all quarters of the globe, and women, and lumpers, 
and dock laborers of all sorts. Frequently the clergyman 
would be standing upon an old cask, arrayed in full canoni- 
cals, as a divine of the Church of England. Never have I 
heard religious discourses better adapted to an audience of 
men, who, like sailors, are chiefly, if not only, to be moved 
by the plainest of precepts, and demonstrations of the misery 
of sin, as conclusive and undeniable as those of Euclid. No 
mere rhetoric avails with such men ; fine periods are vanity. 
You can not touch them with tropes. They need to be 
pressed home by plain facts. 

And such was generally the mode in which they were 
addressed by the clergy in question : who, taking familiar 
themes for their discourses, which were leveled right at the 


224 


RE DBU RN 


wants of their auditors, always succeeded in fastening their 
attention. In particular, the two great vices to which sailors 
are most addicted, and which they practice to the ruin of 
both body and soul ; these things, were the most enlarged 
upon. And several times on the docks, I have seen a robed 
clergyman addressing a large audience of women collected 
from the notorious lanes and alleys in the neighborhood. 

Is not this as it ought to be ? since the true calling of the 
reverend clergy is like their divine Master’s ; — not to bring 
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Did some of them 
leave the converted and comfortable congregations, before 
whom they have ministered year after year ; and plunge at 
once, like St. Paul, into the infected centers and hearts of 
> vice : then indeed, would they find a strong enemy to cope 
with ; and a victory gained over him, would entitle them to 
a conqueror’s wreath. Better to save one sinner from an 
obvious vice that is destroying him, than to indoctrinate ten 
thousand saints. And as from every corner, in Catholic 
towns, the shrines of Holy Mary and the Child Jesus per- 
petually remind the commonest wayfarer of his heaven ; even 
so should Protestant pulpits be founded in the market-places, 
and at street corners, where the men of God might be heard 
by all of His children. 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE OLD CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS, AND THE DEAD-HOUSE. 

The floating chapel recalls to mind the “ Old Church,"' 
well known to the seamen of many generations, who have 
visited Liverpool. It stands very near the docks, a vener- 
able mass of brown stone, and by the town’s people is called 
the Church of St. Nicholas. I believe it is the best pre- 
served piece of antiquity in all Liverpool. 

Before the town rose to any importance, it was the only 
place of worship on that side of the Mersey ; and under the 
adjoining Parish of Walton was a chapel-of-ease ; though 
from the straight backed pews, there could have been but 
little comfort taken in it. 

In old times, there stood in front of the church a statue 
of St. Nicholas, the patron of mariners ; to which all pious 
sailors made offerings, to induce his saintship to grant them 
short and prosperous voyages. In the tower is a fine chime 
of bells ; and I well remember my delight at first hearing 
them on the first Sunday morning after our arrival in the 
dock. It seemed to carry an admonition with it ; something 
like the premonition conveyed to young Whittington by Bow 
Bells. “ Wellingborough I Wellingborough ! you must 
not forget to go to church, Wellingborough I Don't for- 
get, Wellingborough I Wellingborough I don't forget I" 

Thirty or forty years ago, these bells were rung upon the 
arrival of every Liverpool ship from a foreign voyage. How 
forcibly does this illustrate the increase of the commerce of 
the town ! Were the same custom now observed, the bells 
would seldom have a chance to cease. 

What seemed the most remarkable about this venerable 

K* 


226 


REDBURN: 


old church, and what seemed the most barbarous, and grated 
upon the veneration with which I regarded this time-hallowed 
structure, was the condition of the grave-yard surrounding 
it. From its close vicinity to the haunts of the swarms of 
laborers about the docks, it is crossed and re-crossed by 
thoroughfares in all directions ; and the tomb-stones, not 
being erect, but horizontal (indeed, they form a complete 
flagging to the spot), multitudes are constantly walking over 
the dead ; their heels erasing the death’s-heads and cross- 
bones, the last mementos of the departed. At noon, when 
the lumpers employed in loading and unloading the shipping, 
retire for an hour to snatch a dinner, many of them resort to 
the grave-yard ; and seating themselves upon a tomb-stone 
use the adjoining one for a table. Often, I saw men 
stretched out in a drunken sleep upon these slabs ; and 
once, removing a fellow’s arm, read the following inscription, 
which, in a manner, was true to the life, if not to the 
death : — 

HERE LYETH YE BODY OF 
TOBIAS DRINKER. 

For two memorable circumstances connected with this 
church, I am indebted to my excellent lilond, Morocco, who 
tells me that in 1588 the Earl of Derby, coming to his 
residence, and waiting for a passage to the Isle of Man, the 
corporation erected and adorned a sumptuous stall in the 
church for his reception. And moreover, that in the time 
of Cromwell’s wars, when the place was taken by that mad 
nephew of King < Charles, Prince Rupert, he converted the 
old church into a military prison and stable ; when, no 
doubt, another sumptuous stall'' was erected for the bene- 
fit of the steed of some noble cavalry officer. 

In the basement of the church is a Dead House, like the 
Morgue in Paris, where the bodies of the drowned are ex- 
posed until claimed by their friends, or till buried at the 
public charge. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


227 


From the multitudes employed about the shipping, this 
dead-house has always more or less occupants. Whenever 
I passed up Chapel-street, I used to see a crowd gazing 
through the grim iron grating of the door, upon the faces of the 
drowned within. And once, when the door was opened, I 
saw a sailor stretched out, stark and stiff, with the sleeve of 
his frock rolled up, and showing his name and date of birth 
tattooed upon his arm. It was a sight full of suggestions ; 
he seemed his own head-stone. 

I was told that standing rewards are offered for the re- 
covery of persons falHng into the docks ; so much, if restored 
to life, and a less amount if irrecoverably drowned. Lured 
by this, several horrid old men and women are constantly 
prying about the docks, searching after bodies. I observed 
them principally early in the morning, when they issued 
from their dens, on the same principle that the rag-rakers, 
and rubbish-pickers in the streets, sally out bright and early ; 
for then, the night-harVest has ripened. 

There seems to be no calamity overtaking man, that can 
not be rendered merchantable. Undertakers, sextons, tomb- 
makers, and hearse-drivers, get their living from the dead ; 
and in times of plague most thrive. And these miserable 
old men and women hunted after corpses to keep from 
going to the church-yard themselves ; for they were the 
most wretched of starvelings. 


CHAPTEPv XXXVII. 


WHAT REDBURN SAW IN LAUNCELOTt’s-HEY. 

The Dead-house reminds me of other sad things ; for in 
the vicinity of the docks are many very painful sights. 

In going to our boarding-house, the sign of the Baltimore 
Clipper, I generally passed through a narrow street called 
“ Launcelott’s-Hey,” lined with dingy, prison-like cotton 
warehouses. In this street, or rather alley, you seldom see 
any one but a truck-man, or some solitary old warehouse- 
keeper, haunting his smoky den like a ghost. 

Once, passing through this place, I heard a feeble wail, 
which seemed to come out of the earth. It was but a strip 
of crooked side- walk where I stood ; the dingy wall was on 
every side, converting the mid-day into twilight ; and not a 
soul was in sight. I started, and could almost have run, 
when I heard that dismal sound. It seemed the low, hope- 
less, endless wail of some one forever lost. At last I ad- 
vanced to an opening which communicated downward with 
deep tiers of cellars beneath a crumbling old warehouse ; and 
there, some fifteen feet below the walk, crouching in name- 
less squalor, with her head bowed over, was the figure of 
what had been a woman. Her blue arms folded to her livid 
bosom two shrunken things like children, that leaned toward 
-her, one on each side. At first, I knew not whether they 
were alive or dead. They made no sign ; they did not 
move or stir ; but from the vault came that soul-sickening 
wail. 

I made a noise with my foot, which, in the silence, 
echoed far and near ; but there was no response. Louder 
still ; when one of the children lifted its head, and cast up- 


ward a faint glance; then closed its eyes, and lay motionless. 
The woman also, now gazed up, and perceived me ; but let 
fall her eye again. Thfey were dumb and next to dead with 
want. How they had crawled into that den, I could not 
tell ; but there they had crawled to die. At that moment 
I never thought of relieving them ; for death was so stamped 
in their glazed and unimploring eyes, that I almost regarded 
them as already no more. I stood looking down on them, 
while my whole soul swelled within me ; and I asked myself. 
What right had any body in the wide world to smile and 
be glad, when sights like this were to be seen? It was 
enough to turn the heart to gall ; and make a man-hater of 
a Howard. For who were these ghosts that I saw? Were 
they not human beings ? A woman and two girls ? With 
eyes, and lips, and ears like any queen ? with hearts which, 
though they did not bound with blood, yet beat with a dull, 
dead ache that was their life. 

At last, I walked on toward an open lot in the alley, 
hoping to meet there some ragged old women, whom I had 
daily noticed groping amid foul rubbish for little particles of 
dirty cotton, which they washed out and sold for a trifle. 

I found them ; and accosting one, I asked if she knew 
of the persons I had just left. She replied, that she did 
not ; nor did she want to. I then asked another, a miser- 
able, toothless old woman, with a tattered strip of coarse 
baling stuff round her body. Looking at me for an instant, 
she resumed her raking in the rubbish, and said that she 
knew who it was that I spoke of ; but that she had no time 
to attend to beggars and their brats. Accosting still anoth- 
er, who seemed to know my errand, I asked if there was no 
place to which the woman could be taken. “ Yes,” she 
replied, “ to the church-yard.” I said she was alive, and 
not dead. 

“ Then she’ll never die,” was the rejoinder. “ She’s 
been dowui there these three days, with nothing to eat ; — 
that I know myself” 


230 


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“ She desarves it,” said an old hag, who was just placing 
on her crooked shoulders her bag of pickings, and who was 
turning to totter off, “ that Betsey' Jennings desarves it — 
was she ever married ? tell me that.” 

Leaving Launcelott’s-Hey, I turned into a more frequent- 
ed street ; and soon meeting a policeman, told him of the 
condition of the woman and the girls. 

“ It’s none of my business. Jack,” said he. “ I don’t 
belong to that street.” 

“ Who does then ?” 

“ I don’t know. But what business is it of yours ? Are 
you not a Yankee ?” 

“Yes,” said I, “ but come, I will help you remove that 
woman, if you say so.” 

“ There, now, Jack, go on board your ship, and stick to 
it ; and leave these matters to the town.” 

I accosted two more policemen, but with no better suc- 
cess ; they would not even go with me to the place. The 
truth was, it was out of the way, in a silent, secluded spot ; 
and the misery of the three outcasts, hiding away in the 
ground, did not obtrude upon any one. 

Returning to them, I again stamped to attract their at- 
tention ; but this time, none of the three looked up, or even 
stirred. While I yet stood irresolute, a voice called to me 
from a high, iron-shuttered window in a loft over the way ; 
and asked what I was about. I beckoned to the.. man, a sort 
of porter, to come down, which he did ; when I pointed 
down into the vault. 

“ Well,” said he, “ what of it ?” 

“ Can’t we get them out ?” said I, “ haven’t you some 
place in your warehouse where you can put them ? have 
you nothing lor them to eat ?” 

“You’re crazy, boy,” said he; “do you suppose, that 
Parkins and Wood want their warehouse turned into a hos- 
pital ?” 

I then went to my boarding-house, and told Handsome 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


231 


Mary of what I had seen ; asking her if she could not do 
something to get the woman and girls removed ; or if she 
could not do that, let me have some food for them. But 
though a kind person in the main, Mary replied that she 
gave away enough to beggars in her own street (which 
was true enough) without looking after the whole neigh- 
borhood. 

Going into the kitchen, I accosted the cook, a little shriv- 
eled-up old Welshwoman, with a saucy tongue, whom the 
sailors called Brandy- Nan ; and begged her to give me 
some cold victuals, if she had nothing better, to take to the 
vault. But she broke out in a storm of swearing at the 
miserable occupants of the vault, and refused. I then stepped 
into the room where our dinner was being spread ; and 
waiting till the girl had gone out, I snatched some bread 
and cheese from a stand, and thrusting it into the bosom of 
my frock, left the house. Hurrying to the lane, I dropped 
the food down into the vault. One of the girls caught at 
it convulsively, but fell back, apparently fainting ; the sister 
pushed the other’s arm aside, and took the bread in her 
hand ; but with a weak uncertain grasp like an infant’s. 
She placed it to her mouth ; but letting it fall again, mur- 
mured faintly something like “ water.” The woman did not 
stir ; her head was bowed over, just as I had first seen her. 

Seeing how it was, I ran down toward the docks to a 
mean little sailor tavern, and begged for a pitcher ; bnt the 
cross old man who kept it refused, unless I would pay for it. 
But I had no money. So as my boarding-house was some 
way off, and it would be lost time to run to the ship for my 
big iron pot ; under the impulse of the moment, I hurried 
to one of the Boodle Hydrants, which I remembered having 
seen running near the scene of a still smoldering fire in an 
old rag house ; and taking off a new tarpauhn hat, which 
had been loaned me that day, filled it with water. 

With this, I returned to Launcelott’s-Hey ; and with 
considerable difficulty, like getting down into a well, I con- 


232 


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trived to descend with it into the vault ; where there was 
hardly space enough left to let me stand. The two girls 
drank out of the hat together ; looking up at me with an 
unalterable, idiotic expression, that almost made me faint. 
The woman spoke not a word, and did not stir. While the 
girls were breaking and eating the bread, I tried to lift the 
woman’s head ; but, feeble as she was, she seemed bent 
upon holding it down. Observing her arms still clasped 
upon her bosom, and that something seemed hidden under 
the rags there, a thought crossed my mind, which impelled 
me forcibly to withdraw her hands for a moment ; when I 
caught a glimpse of a meager little babe, the lower part of 
its body thrust into an old bonnet. Its face was dazzlingly 
white, even in its squalor ; but the closed eyes looked like 
balls of indigo. It must have been dead some hours. 

The woman refusing to speak, eat, or drink, I asked one 
of the girls who they were, and where they lived ; but she 
only stared vacantly, muttering something that could not be 
understood. 

The air of the place was now getting too much for me ; 
but I stood deliberating a moment, whether it was possible 
for me to drag them out of the vault. But if I did, what 
then ? They would only perish in the street, and here they 
were at least protected from the rain ; and more than that, 
might die in seclusion. 

I crawled up into the street, and looking down upon them 
again, almost repented that I had brought them any food ; 
for it would only tend to prolong their misery, without hope 
of any permanent relief : for die they must very soon ; they 
were too far gone for any medicine to help them. I hardly 
know whether I ought to confess another thing that occurred 
to me as I stood there ; but it was this — I felt an almost 
irresistible impulse to do them the last mercy, of in some 
way putting an end to their horrible lives ; and I should 
almost have done so, I think, had I not been deterred by 
thoughts of the law. For I well knew that the law, which 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


233 


would let them perish of themselves without giving them 
one cup of Avater, would spend a thousand pounds, if neces- 
sary, in convicting him who should so much as offer to 
relieve them from their miserable existence. 

The next day, and the next, I passed the vault three 
times, and still met the same sight. The girls leaning 
up against the woman on each side, and the woman with 
her arms still folding the babe, and her head bowed. The 
first evening I did not see the bread that I had dropped 
down in the morning ; but the second evening, the bread 
I had dropped that morning remained untouched. On 
the third morning the smell that came from the vault was 
such, that I accosted the same policeman I had accosted 
before, who was patrolling the same street, and told him 
that the persons I had spoken to him about were dead, 
and he had better have them removed. He looked as 
if he did not believe me, and added, that it was not his 
street. 

When I arrived at the docks on my way to the ship, I 
entered the guard-house within the walls, and asked for one 
of the captains, to whom I told the story ; but, from what 
he said, was led to infer that the Dock Police was distinct 
from that of the town, and this was not the right place to 
lodge my information. 

I could do no more that morning, being obliged to repair 
to the ship ; but at twelve o’clock, when I went to dinner, 
I hurried into Launcelott’s-Hey, when I found that the vault 
was empty. In place of the women and children, a heap of 
quick-lime was glistening. • 

I could not learn who had taken them away, or whither 
they had gone ; but my prayer was answered — they were 
dead, departed, and at peace. 

But again I looked down into the vault, and in fancy 
beheld the pale, shrunken forms still crouching there. Ah ! 
what are our creeds, and how do we hope to be saved ? 
Tell me, oh Bible, that story of Lazarus again, that I may 


234 


R E D B U E N : 


find comfort in my heart for the poor and forlorn. Sur- 
rounded as we are by the wants and woes of our fellow-men, 
and yet given to follow our own pleasures, regardless of their 
pains, are we not like people sitting up with a corpse, and 
making merry in the house of the dead ? 



CHAPTER X_XXVIII. 

THE DOCK-WALL BEGGARS. 

I MIGHT relate other things which befell me during the 
six weeks and more that I remained in Liverpool, often visit- 
ing the cellars, sinks, and hovels of the wretched lanes and 
courts near the river. But to tell of them, would only be 
to tell over again the story just told ; so I return to the 
docks. 

The old women described as picking dirty fragments of 
cotton in the empty lot, belong to the same class of beings 
who at all hours of the day are to be seen within the 
dock walls, raking over and over the heaps of rubbish car- 
ried ashore from the holds of the shipping. 

As it is against the law to throw the least thing over- 
board, even a rope yarn ; and as this law is very different 
from similar laws in New-York, inasmuch as it is rigidly en- 
forced by the dock-masters ; and, moreover, as after discharg- 
ing a ship’s cargo, a great deal of dirt and worthless dun- 
nage remains in the hold, the amount of rubbish accumu- 
lated in the appointed receptacles for depositing it within the 
walls is extremely large, and is constantly receiving new 
accessions from every vessel that unlades at the quays. 

Standing over these noisome heaps, you will see scores of 
tattered wretches, armed with old rakes and picking-irons, 
turning over the dirt, and making as much of a rope-yarn as 
if it were a skein of silk. Their findings, nevertheless, are 
but small ; for as it is one of the immemorial perquisites of 
the second mate of a merchant ship to collect, and sell 
on his own account, all the condemned “ old junk” of the 
vessel to which he belongs, he generally takes good heed that 


236 


R E D B U R N : 


in the buckets of rubbish carried ashore, there shall be as 
few rope-yarns as possible. 

In the same way, the cook preserves all the odds and 
ends of pork-rinds and beef-fat, whicK he sells at considera- 
ble profit ; upon a six months’ voyage frequently realizing 
thirty or forty dollars from the sale, and in large ships, even 
more than that. It may easily be imagined, then, how des- 
perately driven to it must these rubbish-pickers be, to ran- 
sack heaps of refuse which have been previously gleaned. 

Nor must I omit to make mention of the singular beg- 
gary practiced in the streets frequented by sailors ; and par- 
ticularly to record the remarkable army of paupers that 
beset the docks at particular hours of the day. 

At twelve o’clock the crews of hundreds and hundreds of 
, ships issue in crowds from the dock gates to go to their din- 
ner in the town. This hour is seized upon by multitudes 
of beggars to plant themselves against the outside of the 
walls, while others stand upon the curbstone to excite the 
charity of the seamen. The first time that I passed 
through this long lane of pauperism, it seemed hard to be- 
lieve that such an array of misery could be furnished by any 
town in the world. 

Every variety of want and suffering here met the eye, and 
every vice showed here its victims. Nor were the marvel- 
ous and almost incredible shifts and stratagems of the pro- 
fessional beggars, wanting to finish this picture of all that is 
dishonorable to civilization and humanity. 

Old women, rather mummies, drying up with slow starv- 
ing and age ; young girls, incurably sick, who ought to have 
been in the hospital ; sturdy men, with the gallows in their 
eyes, and a whining lie in their mouths ; young boys, hol- 
low-eyed and decrepit ; and puny mothers, holding up puny 
babes in the glare of the sun, formed the main features of 
the scene. 

But these were diversified by instances of peculiar suffer- 
ing, vice, or art in attracting charity, which, to me at least, 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


237 


who had never seen such things before, seemed to the last 
degree uncommon and monstrous. 

I remember one cripple, a young man rather decently 
clad, who sat huddled up against the wall, holding a painted 
board on his knees. It was a picture intending to represent 
the man himself caught in the machinery of some factory, 
and whirled about among spindles and cogs, with his limbs 
mangled and bloody. This person said nothing, but sat 
silently exhibiting his board. Next him, leaning upright 
against the wall, was a tall, pallid man, with a white ban- 
dage round his brow, and his face cadaverous as a corpse. 
He, too, said nothing ; but with one finger silently pointed 
down to the square of flagging at his feet, which was nicely 
swept, and stained blue, and bore this inscription in chalk : — 

“7 have had no food for three days; 

My wife and children are dying. 

Further on lay a man with one sleeve of his ragged coat 
removed, showing an unsightly sore ; and above it a label 
with some writing. 

In some places, for the distance of many rods, the whole 
line of flagging immediately at the base of the wall, would 
be completely covered with inscriptions, the beggars standing 
over them in silence. 

But as you passed along these horrible records, in an 
hour’s time destined to be obliterated by the feet of thousands 
and thousands of wayfarers, you were not left unassailed by 
the clamorous petitions 'of the more urgent applicants for 
charity. They beset you on every hand ; catching you 
by the coat ; hanging on, and following you along ; and, 
far Heaven’s sake, and for God’s sake, and for Christ’s 
sake, beseeching of you but one ha’penny. If you so much 
as glanced your eye on one of them, even for an instant, 
it was perceived like lightning, and the person never left 
your side until you turned into another street, or satisfied 
his demands. Thus, at least, it was with the sailors ; though 


238 


REDBURN: 


I observed that the beggars treated the town’s people dif- 
ferently. 

I can not say that the seamen did much to relieve the 
destitution which three times every day was presented to 
their view. Perhaps habit had made them callous ; but 
the truth might have been that very few of them had much 
money to give. Yet the beggars must have had some in- 
ducement to infest the dock walls as they did. 

As an example of the caprice of sailors, and their sympa- 
thy with suffering among members of their own calling, I 
must mention the case of an old man, who every day, and 
all day long, through sunshine and rain, occupied a particular 
corner, where crowds of tars were always passing. He was 
an uncommonly large, plethoric man, with a wooden leg, and 
' dressed in the nautical garb ; his face was red and round ; 
he was continually merry ; and with his wooden stump 
thrust forth, so as almost to trip up the careless wayfarer, 
he sat upon a great pile of monkey jackets, with a little de- 
pression in them between his knees, to receive the coppers 
thrown him. And plenty of pennies were tost into his poor- 
box by the sailors, who always exchanged a pleasant word 
with the old man, and passed on, generally regardless of the 
neighboring beggars. 

The first morning I went ashore with my shipmates, some 
of them greeted him as an old acquaintance ; for that corner 
he had occupied for many long years. He was an old man- 
of-war’s man, who had lost his leg at the battle of Trafalgar ; 
and singular to tell, he now exhibited his wooden one as a 
genuine specimen of the oak timbers of Nelson’s ship, the 
Victory. 

Among the paupers were several who wore old sailor hats 
and jackets, and claimed to be destitute tars ; and on the 
strength of these pretensions demanded help from their breth- 
ren; but Jack would see through their disguise in a moment, 
ana turn away, with no benediction. 

As I daily passed through this lane of beggars, who 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


239 


thronged the docks as the Hebrew cripples did the Pool of 
Bethesda, and as I thought of my utter inability in any 
way to help them, I could not but offer up a prayer, 
that some angel might descend, and turn the waters of the 
docks into an elixir, that would heal all their woes, and 
make them, man and woman, healthy and whole as their 
ancestors, Adam and Eve, in the garden. 

Adam and Eve ! If indeed ye are yet alive and in 
heaven, may it he no part of your immortality to look down 
upon the world ye have left. For as all these sufferers and 
cripples are as much your family as young Abel, so, to you, 
the sight of the world’s woes would be a parental torment 
indeed. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 


THE BOOBLE-ALLEYS OF THE TOWN. 

The same sights that are to be met with along the dock 
walls at noon, in a less degree, though diversified with other 
scenes, are continually encountered in the narrow streets 
where the sailor boarding-houses are kept. 

In the evening, especially when the sailors are gathered 
in great numbers, these streets present a most singular spec- 
tacle, the entire population of the vicinity being seemingly 
turned into them. Hand-organs, fiddles, and cymbals, plied 
by strolling musicians, mix with the songs of the seamen, 
the babble of women and children, and the groaning and 
whining of beggars. From the* various boarding-houses, 
each distinguished by gilded emblems outside — an anchor, a 
crown, a ship, a windlass, or a dolphin — ^proceeds the noise 
of revelry and dancing ; and from the open casements lean 
young girls and old women, chattering and laughing with 
the crowds in the middle of the street. Every moment 
strange greetings are exchanged between old sailors who 
chance to stumble upon a shipmate, last seen in Calcutta 
or Savannah ; and the invariable courtesy that takes place 
upon these occasions, is to go to the next spirit-vault, and 
drink each other’s health. 

There are particular paupers who frequent particular sec- 
tions of these streets, and who, I was told, resented the in- 
trusion of mendicants from other parts of the town. 

Chief among them was a white-haired old man, stone- 
blind ; who was led up and down through the long tumult 
by a woman holding a little saucer to receive contributionsT 
This old man sang, or rather chanted, certain words in a 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


241 


peculiarly long-drawn, guttural manner, throwing back his 
head, and turning up his sightless eyeballs to the sky. His 
chant was a lamentation upon his infirmity ; and at the 
time it produced the same effect upon me, that my first 
reading of Milton’s Invocation to the Sun did, years after- 
ward. I can not recall it all ; but it was something like 
this, drawn out in an endless groan — 

“ Here goes the blind old man ; blind, blind, blind ; no 
more will he see sun nor moon — no more see sun nor moon !” 
And thus would he pass through the middle of the street ; 
the woman going on in advance, holding his hand, and drag- 
ging him through all obstructions ; now and then leaving 
him standing, while she went among the crowd soliciting 
coppers. 

But one of the most curious features of the scene is the 
number of sailor ballad-singers, who, after singing their 
verses, hand you a printed copy, and beg you to buy. One 
of these persons^ dressed like a man-of-war’ s-man, I observed 
every day standing at a corner in the middle of the street. 
He had a full, noble voice, like a church-organ ; and his 
notes rose high above the surrounding din. But the remark- 
able thing about this ballad-singer was one of his arms, 
which, while singing, he somehow swung vertically round 
and round in the air, as if it revolved on a pivot. The 
feat was unnaturally unaccountable ; and he performed it 
with the view of attracting sympathy ; since he said that in 
falling from a frigate’s mast-head to the deck, he had met 
with an injury, which had resulted in making his wonderful 
arm what it was. 

I made the acquaintance of this man, and found him no 
common character. He was full of marvelous adventures, 
and abounded in terrific stories of pirates and sea murders, 
and ail sorts of nautical enormities. He was a monomaniac 
upon these subjects ; he was a Newgate Calendar of the 
robberies and assassinations of the day, happening in the 
sailor quarters of the town ; and most of his ballads were 

L 


242 


REDBURN: 


upon kindred subjects. He composed many of his own 
verses, and had them printed for sale on his own account. 
To show how expeditious he was at this business, it may be 
mentioned, that one evening on leaving the dock to go to 
supper, I perceived a crowd gathered about the Old Fort 
Tavern; and mingling with the rest, I learned that a 
woman of the town had just been killed at the bar by a 
drunken Spanish sailor from Cadiz. The murderer was 
carried off by the police before my eyes, and the very next 
morning the ballaisinger with the miraculous arm, was 
singing the tragedy in front of the boarding-houses, and 
handing round printed copies of the song, which, of course, 
were eagerly bought up by the seamen. 

This passing allusion to the murder will convey some 
idea of the events which take place in the lowest and most 
abandoned neighborhoods frequented by sailors in Liverpool. 
The pestilent lanes and alleys which, in their vocabulary, 
go by the names of Rotten-row, Gibraltar-place, and Booble- 
alley, are putrid with vice and crime ; to which, perhaps, 
the round globe does not furnish a parallel. The sooty and 
' begrimed bricks of the very houses have a reeking. Sodom- 
like, and murderous look ; and well may the shroud of coal- 
smoke, which hangs over this part of the town, more than 
any other, attempt to hide the enormities here practiced. 
These are the haunts from which sailors sometimes disappear 
forever ; or issue in the morning, robbed naked, from the 
broken door-ways. These are the haunts in which cursing, 
gambling, pickpocketing, and common iniquities, are virtues 
too lofty for the infected gorgons and hydras to practice. 
Propriety forbids that I should enter into details ; but kid- 
nappers, barkers, and resurrectionists are almost saints and 
angels to them. They seem leagued together, a company 
of miscreant misanthropes, bent upon doing all the malice to 
mankind in their power. With sulphur and brimstone they 
ought to be burned out of their arches like vermin. 


CHAPTER XL. 


PLACARDS, BRASS-JEWELERS, TRUCK-HORSES, AND STEAMERS. 

As I wish to group together what fell under my observa- 
tion concerning the Liverpool docks, and the scenes round- 
about, I will try to throw into this chapter various minor 
things that I recall. 

The advertisements of pauperism chalked upon the flag- 
ging round the dock walls, are singularly accompanied by a 
multitude of quite different announcements, placarded upon 
the walls themselves. They are principally notices of the 
approaching departure of “ superior, fast-sailing, coppered 
arid copperfastened ships , for the United States, Canada, 
New South Wales, and other places. Interspersed with 
these, are the advertisements of Jewish clothesmen, inform- 
ing the judicious seaman where he can procure of the best 
and the cheapest ; together with ambiguous medical an- 
nouncements of the tribe of quacks and empirics who prey 
upon all seafaring men. Not content with thus publicly 
giving notice of their whereabouts, these indefatigable 
Sangrados and pretended Samaritans hire a parcel of 
shabby workhouse-looking knaves, whose business consists 
in haunting the dock walls about meal times, and silently 
thrusting mysterious little billets — duodecimo editions of 
the larger advertisements — ^into the astonished hands of the 
tars. 

They do this, with such a mysterious hang-dog wink; 
such a sidelong air ; such a villainous assumption of your 
necessities ; that, at first, you are almost tempted to knock 
them down for their pains. 


244 


EEDBURN: 


Conspicuous among the notices on the walls, are huge 
Italic inducements to all seamen disgusted with the mer- 
chant service, to accept a round bounty, and embark in her 
Majesty’s navy. 

In the British armed marine, in time of peace, they do 
not ship men for the general service, as in the American 
navy ; but for particular ships, going upon particular cruises. 
Thus, the frigate Thetis may be announced as about to sail 
under the command of that fine old sailor, and noble father 
to his crew. Lord George Flagstaff. 

Similar announcements may be seen upon the walls con- 
cerning enlistments in the army. And never did auctioneer 
dilate with more rapture upon the charms of some country- 
seat put up for sale, than the authors of these placards do, 
upon the beauty and salubrity of the distant climes, for 
which the regiments wanting recruits are about to sail. 
Bright lawns, vine-clad hills, endless meadows of verdure, 
here make up the landscape ; and adventurous young gen- 
tlemen, fond of travel, are informed, that here is a chance 
for them to see the world at their leisure, and be paid for 
enjoying themselves into the bargain. The regiments for 
India are promised plantations among valleys of palms ; 
while to those destined for New Holland, a novel sphere of 
life and activity is opened ; and the companies bound to 
Canada and Nova Scotia are lured by tales of summer 
suns, that ripen grapes in December. No word of war is 
breathed ; hushed is the clang of arms in these announce- 
ments ; and the sanguine recruit is almost tempted to expect 
that pruning-hooks, instead of swords, will be the weapons 
he will wield. 

Alas ! is not this the cruel stratagem of Bruce at Ban- 
nockburn, who decoyed to his war-pits by covering them 
over with green boughs? For instead of a farm at the 
blue base of the Himalayas, the Indian recruit encounters 
the keen saber of the Sikh ; and instead of basking in sunny 
bowers, the Canadian soldier stands a shivering sentry upon 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


245 


the bleak ramparts of Quebec, a lofty mark for the bitter 
blasts from Baffin’s Bay and Labrador. There, as his eye 
sweeps down the St. Lawrence, whose every billow is bound 
for the main that laves the shore of Old England ; as he 
thinks of his long term of enlistment, which sells him to 
the army as Doctor Faust sold himself to the devil ; how 
the poor fellow must groan in his grief, and call to mind the 
church-yard stile, and his Mary. ^ 

These army announcements are well fitted to draw re- 
cruits in Liverpool. Among the vast number of emigrants, 
who daily arrive from all parts of Britain to embark for the 
United States or the colonies, there are many young men, 
who, upon arriving at Liverpool, find themselves next to 
penniless ; or, at least, with only enough money to carry 
them over the sea, without providing for future contingen- 
cies. How easily and naturally, then, may such youths be 
induced to enter upon the military life, which promises them 
a free passage to the most distant and flourishing colonies, 
and certain pay for doing nothing ; besides holding out hopes 
of vineyards and farms, to be verified in the fullness of 
time. For in a moneyless youth, the decision to leave 
home at all, and embark upon a long voyage to reside in 
a remote clime, is a piece of adventurousness only one 
remove from the spirit that prompts the army recruit to 
enlist. 

I never passed these advertisements, surrounded by crowds 
of gaping emigrants, without thinldng of rat-traps. 

Besides the mysterious agents of the quacks, who privily 
thrust their little notes into your hands, folded up like a 
powder ; there are another set of rascals prowling about the 
docks, chiefly at dusk ; who make strange motions to you, 
and beckon you to one side, as if they had some state secret 
to disclose, intimately connected with the weal oUthe com- 
monwealth. They nudge you with an elbow full of indefi- 
nite hints and intimations ; they glitter upon you an eye 
like a Jew’s or a pawnbroker’s ; they dog you like Italian 


246 


REDBURN: 


assassins. But if the blue coat of a policeman chances to 
approach, how quickly they strive to look completely indif- 
ferent, as to the surrounding universe ; how they saunter 
off, as if lazily wending their way to an affectionate wife 
and family. 

The first time one of these mysterious personages accosted 
me, I fancied him crazy, and hurried forward to avoid him. 
But arm in arm with my shadow, he followed after ; till 
amazed at his conduct, I turned round and paused. 

He was a little, shabby, old man, with a forlorn looking 
coat and hat ; and his hand was fumbling in his vest pocket, 
as if to take out a card with his address. Seeing me stand 
still, he made a sign toward a dark angle of the wall, near 
which we were ; when taking him for a cunning foot-pad, I 
again wheeled about, and swiftly passed on. But though I 
did not look found, I felt him following me still ; so once 
more I stopped. The fellow now assumed so mystic and 
admonitory an air, that I began to fancy he came to me on 
some warning errand ; that perhaps a plot had been laid to 
blow up the Liverpool docks, and he was some Monteagle 
bent upon accomplishing my flight. I was determined to 
see what he was. With all my eyes about me, I followed 
him into the arch of a warehouse; when he gazed round 
furtively, and silently showing me a ring, whispered, “You 
may have it for a shilling ; it’s pure gold — I found it in the 
gutter — hush ! don’t speak ! give me the money, and it’s 
yours.” 

“ My friend,” said I, “ I don’t trade in these articles ; I 
don’t want your ring.” 

“ Don’t you ? Then take that,” he whispered, in an 
intense hushed passion ; and I fell flat from a blow on the 
chest, while this infamous jeweler made away with himself 
out of sight. This business transaction was conducted with 
a counting-house promptitude that astonished me. 

After that, I shunned these scoundrels like the leprosy : 
and the next time I was pertinaciously followed, I stopped, and 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


247 


in a loud voice, pointed out the man to the passers by ; upon 
which he absconded ; rapidly turning up into sight a pair of 
obliquely worn and battered boot-heels. I could not help 
thinking that these sort of fellows, so given to running away 
upon emergencies, must furnish a good deal of work to the 
shoemakers ; as they might, also, to the growers of hemp 
and gallows-joiners. 

Belonging to a somewhat similar fraternity with these 
irritable merchants of brass jewelry just mentioned, are the 
peddlers of Sheffield razors, mostly boys, who are hourly 
driven out of the dock gates by the police ; nevertheless, 
they contrive to saunter back, and board the vessels, going 
among the sailors and privately exhibiting their wares. 
Incited by the extreme cheapness of one of the razors, and 
the gilding on the case containing it, a shipmate of mine 
purchased it on the spot for a commercial equivalent of the 
price, in tobacco. On the following Sunday, he used that 
razor ; and the result was a pair of tormented and toma 
hawked cheeks, that almost required a surgeon to dress 
them. In old times, by the way, it was not a bad thought, 
that suggested the propriety of a barber’s practicing surgery 
in connection with the chin-harrowing vocation. 

Another class of knaves, who practice upon the sailors in 
Liverpool, are the pawnbrokers, inhabiting little rookeries 
among the narrow lanes adjoining the dock. I was astonished 
at the multitude of gilded balls in these streets, emblematic 
of their calling. They were generally next neighbors to the 
gilded grapes over the spirit-vaults ; and no doubt, mutually 
to facilitate business operations, some of these establishments 
have connecting doors inside, so as to play their customers 
into each other’s hands. I often saw sailors in a state of 
intoxication rushing from a spirit- vault into a pawnbroker’s ; 
stripping off their boots, hats, jackets, and neckerchiefs, and 
sometimes even their pantaloons on the spot, and offering to 
pawn them for a song. Of course such applications were 
never refused. 


248 


R E D B U R N : 


But though on shore, at Liverpool, poor Jack finds more 
sharks than at sea, he himself is by no means exempt from 
practices, that do not savor of a rigid morality ; at least 
according to law. In tobacco smuggling he is an adept : 
and when cool and collected, often manages to evade the 
Customs completely, and land goodly packages of the weed, 
which owing to the immense duties upon it in England, 
commands a very high price. 

As soon as we came to anchor in the river, before reaching 
the dock, three Custom-house underlings boarded us, and 
coming down into the forecastle, ordered the men to produce 
all the tobacco they had. Accordingly several pounds were 
brought forth. 

“ Is that all ?” asked the officers. 

“ All,” said the men. 

“ We will' see,” returned the others. 

And without more ado,’ they emptied the chests right and 
left ; tossed over the bunks and made a thorough search of” 
the premises ; but discovered nothing. The sailors were 
then given to understand, that while the ship lay in dock, 
the tobacco must remain in the cabin, under custody of the 
chief mate, who every morning would dole out to them 
one plug per head, as a security against their carrying 
it ashore. 

“ Very good,” said the men. 

But several of them had secret places in the ship, from 
whence they daily drew pound after pound of tobacco, 
which they smuggled ashore in the manner following. 

When the crew went to meals, each man carried at least 
one plug in his pocket ; that he had a right to ; and as 
many more were hidden about his person as he dared. 
Among the great crowds pouring out of the dock-gates at 
such hours, of course these smugglers stood little chance of 
detection ; although vigilant looking policemen were always 
standing by. And though these “ OhaTlie^^ might suppose 
there were tobacco smugglers passing ; yet to hit the right 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


249 


man among such a throng, would be as hard, as to harpoon 
a speckled porpoise, one of ten thousand darting under a 
ship’s bows. 

Our forecastle was often visited by foreign sailors, who 
knowing we came from America, were anxious to purchase 
tobacco at a cheap rate ; for in Liverpool it is about an 
American penny per pipe-full. Along the docks they sell an 
English pennyworth, put up in a little roll like confectioners’ 
mottoes, with poetical lines, or instructive little moral pre- 
cepts printed in red on the back. 

Among all the sights of the docks, the noble truck-horses 
are not the least striking to a stranger. They are large and 
powerful brutes, with such sleek and glossy coats, that they 
look as if brushed and put on by a valet every morning. 
They march with a slow and stately step, lifting their pon- 
derous hoofs like royal Siam elephants. Thou shalt not lay 
stripes upon these Roman citizens ; for their docility is such, 
they are guided without rein or lash ; they go or come, halt 
or march on,* at a whisper. So grave, dignified, gentle- 
manly, and courteous did these fine truck-horses look — so 
full of calm intelligence and sagacity, that often I endeavored 
to get into conversation with them, as they stood in contem- 
plative attitudes while their loads were preparing. But all 
I could get from them was the mere recognition of a friendly 
neigh ; though I would stake much upon it that, could I 
have spoken in their language, I would have derived from 
them a good deal of valuable information touching the docks, 
where they passed the whole of their dignified lives. 

There are unknown worlds of knowledge in brutes ; and 
whenever you mark a horse, or a dog, with a peculiarly 
mild, calm, deep-seated eye, be sure he is an Aristotle or a 
Kant, tranquilly speculating upon the mysteries in man. No 
philosophers so thoroughly comprehend us as dogs and horses. 
They see through us at a glance. And after all, what is a 
horse, but a species of four-footed dumb man, in a leathern 
overall, ^I’ho happens to live upon oats, and toils for his mas- 

L* 


250 


REDBURN: 


ters, half-requited or abused, like the biped hewers of wood 
and drawers of water ? But there is a touch of divinity 
even in brutes, and a special halo about a horse, that should 
forever exempt him from indignities. As for those majestic, 
magisterial truck-horses of the docks, I would as soon think 
of striking a judge on the bench, as to lay violent hand 
upon their holy hides. 

It is wonderful what loads their majesties will condescend 
to draw. The truck is a large square platform, on four low 
wheels ; and upon this the lumpers pile bale after bale of 
cotton, as if they were filling a large warehouse, and yet a 
procession of three of these horses will tranquilly walk away 
with the whole. 

The truckmen themselves are almost as singular a race 
as their animals. Like the Judiciary in England, they wear 
gowns, — not of the same cut and color though, — which reach 
below their knees ; and from the racket they make on the 
pavements with their hob-nailed brogans, you would think 
they patronized the same shoemaker with their horses. I 
never could get any thing out of these truckmen. They are 
a reserved, sober-sided set, who, with all possible solemnity, 
march at the head of their animals now and then gently 
advising them to sheer to the right or the left, in order do 
avoid some passing vehicle. Then spending so much of their 
lives in the high-bred company of their horses, seems to have 
mended their manners and improved their taste, besides im- 
parting to them something of the dignity of their animals ; 
but it has also given to them a sort of refined and uncom- 
plaining aversion to human society. 

There are many strange stories told of the truck-horse. 
Among others is the following : There was a parrot, that 
from having long been suspended in its cage from a low 
window fronting a dock, had learned to converse pretty flu- 
ently in the language of the stevedores and truckmen. One 
day a truckman left his vehicle standing on the quay, with 
its back to the water. It was noon, when an interval of 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


251 


silence falls upon the docks ; and Poll, seeing herself face to 
face with the horse, and having a mind for a chat, cried out 
to him, Back ! hack! hack T 

Backward went the horse, precipitating himself and truck 
into the water. 

Brunswick Dock, to the west of Prince’s, is one of the 
most interesting to be seen. Here lie the various black 
steamers (so unlike the American boats, since they have to 
navigate the boisterous Narrow Seas) plying to all parts of 
the three kingdoms. Here you see vast quantities of pro- 
duce, imported from starving Ireland ; here you see the decks 
turned into pens for oxen and sheep ; and often, side by side 
with these inclosures, Irish deck-passengers, thick as they 
can stand, seemingly penned in just like the cattle. It was 
the beginning of July when the Highlander arrived in port ; 
and the Irish laborers were daily coming over by thousands, 
to help harvest the Enghsh crops. 

One morning, going into the town, I heard a tramp, as 
of a drove of buffaloes, behind me ; and turning round, beheld 
the entire middle of the street filled by a great crowd of these 
men, who had just emerged from Brunswick Dock gates, ar- 
rayed in long-tailed coats of hoddin-gray, corduroy knee- 
breeches, and shod with shoes that raised a mighty dust. 
Flourishing their Donnybrook shillelahs, they looked like an 
irruption of barbarians. They were marching straight out 
of town into the country ; and perhaps out of consideration 
for the finances of the corporation, took the middle of the 
street, to save the side- walks. 

“ Sing Langolee, and the Lakes of Killarneyf cried 
one fellow, tossing his stick into the air, as he danced in his 
brogans at the head of the rabble. And so they went ! 
capering on, merry as pipers. 

When I thought of the multitudes of Irish that annually 
land on the shores of the United States and Canada, and, to 
my surprise, witnessed the additional multitudes embarking 
from Liverpool to New Holland ; and when, added to all 


252 


KEDBURN: 


this, I daily saw these hordes of laborers, descending, thick 
as locusts, upon the English corn-fields ; I could not help 
marveling at the fertility of an island, which, though her 
crop of potatoes may fail, never yet failed in bringing her 
annual crop of men into the world. 


CHAPTER XLI. 


REDBURN ROVES ABOUT HITHER AND THITHER. 

I DO not know that any other traveler would think it 
worth while to mention such a thing ; hut the fact is, that 
during the summer months in Liverpool, the days are ex- 
ceedingly lengthy; and the first evening I found myself 
walking in the twilight after nine o’clock, I tried to recall 
my astronomical knowledge, in order to account satisfactorily 
for so curious a phenomenon. But the days in summer, 
and the nights in winter, are just as long in Liverpool as at 
Cape Horn ; for the latitude of the two places very nearly 
corresponds. 

These Liverpool days, however, were a famous thing for 
me ; who, thereby, was enabled after my day’s work aboard 
the Highlander, to ramble about the town for several hours. 
After I. had visited all the noted places I could discover, of 
those marked down upon my father’s map ; I began to extend 
my rovings indefinitely ; forming myself into a committee of 
one, to investigate all accessible parts of the town ; though 
so many years have elapsed, ere I have thought of bringing 
in my report. 

This was a great delight to me : for wherever I have 
been in the world, I have always taken a vast deal of lonely 
satisfaction in wandering about, up and down, among out-of- 
the-way streets and alleys, and speculating upon the strangers 
I have met. Thus, in Liverpool I used to pace along end- 
less streets of dwelling-houses, looking at the names on the 
doors, admiring the pretty faces in the windows, and invoking 
a passing blessing upon the chubby children on the door-steps. 
I was stared at myself, to be sure ; but what of that ? We 


254 


REDBURN: 


must give and take on such occasions. In truth, I and my 
shooting-jacket produced quite a sensation in Liverpool : and 
I have no doubt, that many a father of a family went home 
to his children with a curious story, about a wandering 
phenomenon they had encountered, traversing the side-walks 
that day. In the words of the old song, “ I cared for 
nobody, no not J, and nobody cared for me'' I stared my 
fill with impunity, and took all stares myself in good part. 

Once I was standing ' in a large square, gaping at a 
splendid chariot drawn up at a portico. The glossy horses 
quivered with good-living, and so did the sumptuous calves 
of the gold-laced coachman and footmen in attendance. I 
was particularly struck with the red cheeks of these men: 
and the many evidences they furnished of their enjoying this 
life with a wonderful relish. 

While thus standing, I all at once perceived, that the 
objects of my curiosity, were making me an object of their 
own ; and that they were gazing at me, as if I were some 
unauthorized intruder upon the British soil. Truly, they 
had reason : for when I now think of the figure I must have 
cut in those days, I only marvel that, in my many strolls, 
my passport was not a thousand times demanded. 

Nevertheless, I was only a forlorn looking mortal among 
tens of thousands of rags and tatters. For in some parts of 
the town, inhabited by laborers, and poor people generally ; 
I used to crowd my way through masses of squalid men, 
women, and children, who at this evening hour, in those 
quarters of Liverpool, seem to empty themselves into the 
street, and live there for the time. I had never seen any 
thing like it in New York. 

Often, I witnessed some curious, and many very sad 
scenes ; and especially I remembered encountering a pale, 
ragged man, rushing along frantically, and striving to throw 
off his wife and children, who clung to his arms and legs ; 
and, in God’s name, conjured him not to desert them. He 
seemed bent upon rushing down to the water, and drowning 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


255 


himself, in some despair, and craziness of wretchedness. In 
these haunts, beggary went on before me wherever I walked, 
and dogged me unceasingly at the heels. Poverty, poverty, 
poverty, in almost endless vistas : and want and woe stag- 
gered arm in arm along these miserable streets. 

And here, I must not omit one thing, that struck me at the 
time. It was the absence of negroes ; who in the large towns 
in the “free states” of America, almost always form a con- 
siderable portion of the destitute. But in these streets, not a 
negro was to be seen. All were whites ; and with the excep- 
tion of the Irish, were natives of the soil : even Englishmen ; 
as much Englishmen, as the dukes in the House of Lords. 
This conveyed a strange feeling : and more than any thing 
else, reminded me that I was not in my own land. For 
there, such a being as a native beggar is almost unknown ; 
and to be a born American citizen seems a guarantee 
against pauperism ; and this, perhaps, springs from the 
virtue of a vote. 

Speaking of negroes, recalls the looks of interest with 
which negro-sailors are regarded when they walk the Liver- 
pool streets. In Liverpool indeed the negro steps with a 
prouder pace, and lifts his head like a man ; for here, no 
such exaggerated feeling exists in respect to him, as in 
America. Three or four times, I encountered our black 
steward, dressed v.ery handsomely, and walking arm in arm 
with a good-looking English woman. In New York, such 
a couple would have been mobbed in three minutes ; and 
the steward would have been lucky to escape with whole 
limbs. Owing to the friendly reception extended to them, 
and the unwonted immunities they enjoy in Liverpool, the 
black cooks and stewards of American ships are very much 
attached to the place and like to make voyages to it. 

Being so young and inexperienced then, and unconsciously 
4W'ayed in some degree by those local and social prejudices, 
ihat are the marring of most men, and from which, for the 
mass, there seems no possible escape • at first I was surprised 


256 


RED BURN: 


that a colored man should be treated as he is in. this toAvn ; 
but a little reflection showed that, after all, it was but 
recognizing his claims to humanity and normal equality ; so 
that, in some things, we Americans leave to other countries 
the carrying out of the principle that stands at the head of 
our Declaration of Independence. 

During my evening strolls in the wealthier quarters, I 
was' subject to a continual mortification. It was the humil- 
iating fact, wholly unforeseen by -me, that upon the whole, 
and barring the poverty and beggary, Liverpool, away from 
the docks, was very much such a place as New York. 
There were the same sort of streets pretty much ; the same 
rows of houses with stone steps ; the same kind of sidewalks 
and curbs ; and the same elbowing, heartless-looking crowd 
as ever. 

¥ 

I came across the Leeds Canal, one afternoon; but, upon 
my word, no one could have told it from the Erie Canal at 
Albany. I went into St. John’s Market on a Saturday 
night ; and though it was strange enough to see that great 
roof supported by so many pillars, yet the most discriminat- 
ing observer would not have been able to detect any differ- 
ence between the articles exposed for sale, and the articles 
exhibited in Fulton Market, New York. 

I walked down Lord- street, peering into the jewelers’ 
shops ; but I thought I was walking down a block in Broad- 
way. I began to think that all this talk about travel was 
a humbug ; and that he who lives in a nut-shell, lives in an 
epitome of the universe, and has but little to see beyond 
him. 

It is true, that I often thought of London’s being only 
seven or eight hours’ travel by railroad from where I was ; 
and that there, surely, must be a world of wonders waiting 
my eyes : but more of London anon. 

Sundays were the days upon which I made my longest 
explorations. I rose bright and early, with my whole plan 
of operations in my head. Fir.st walking into some dock 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


257 


hitherto unexamined, and then to breakfast. Then a walk 
through the more fashionable streets, to see the people going 
to church ; and then I myself went to church, selecting the 
goodliest edifice, and the tallest Kentuckian of a spire I 
could find. 

For I am an admirer of church architecture; and though, 
perhaps, the sums spent in erecting magnificent cathedrals 
might better go to the founding of charities, yet since these 
structures are built, those who disapprove of them in one 
sense, may as well have the benefit of them in another. 

It is a most Christian thing, and a matter most sweet to 
dwell upon and simmer over in solitude, that any poor sin- 
' ner may go to church wherever he pleases ; and that even 
St. Peter’s in Rome is open to him, as to a cardinal ; that 
St. Paul’s in London is not shut against him ; and that the 
Broadway Tabernacle, in New York, opens all her broad 
aisles to him, and will not even have doors and thresholds 
to her pews, the better to allure him by an unbounded in- 
vitation. I say, this consideration of the hospitality and 
democracy in churches, is a most Christian and charming 
thought. It speaks whole volumes of folios, and Vatican 
libraries, for Christianity ; it is more eloquent, and goes far- 
ther home than all the sermons of Massillon, Jeremy Tay- 
lor, Wesley, and Archbishop Tillotson. 

Nothing daunted, therefore, by thinking of my being a 
stranger in the land ; nothing daunted by the architectural 
superiority and costliness of any Liverpool church ; or by the 
streams of silk dresses and fine broadcloth coats flowing into 
the aisles ; I used humbly to present myself before the sex- 
ton, as a candidate for admission. He would stare a little, 
•perhaps (one of them once hesitated), but in the end, what 
could he do but show me into a pew ; not the most commo- 
dious of pews, to be sure ; nor commandingly located ; nor 
within very plain sight or hearing of the pulpit. No ; it 
was remarkable, that there was always some confounded 
pillar or obstinate angle of the wall in the way ; and I used 


258 


R E D B U R N ; 


to think, that the sextons of Liverpool must have held a 
secret meeting on my account, and resolved to apportion me 
the most inconvenient pew in the churches under their 
charge. However, they always gave me a seat of some 
sort or other ; sometimes even on an oaken bench in the 
open air of the aisle, where I would sit, dividing the at- 
tention of the congregation between myself and the clergy- 
man. The whole congregation seemed to know that I was 
a foreigner of distinction.^ 

It was sweet to hear the service read, the organ roll, the 
sermon preached — ^just as the same things were going on 
three thousand five hundred miles ofT, at home ! But then, 
the prayer in behalf of her majesty the Queen, somewhat 
threw me aback. Nevertheless, I joined in that prayer, and 
invoked for tfie lady the best wishes of a poor Yankee. 

How I loved to sit in the holy hush of those brown old 
monastic aisles, thinking of Harry the Eighth, and the 
Reformation ! How I loved to go a roving with my eye, 
all along the sculptured walls and buttresses ; winding in 
among the intricacies of the pendent ceiling, and wriggling 
my fancied way like a wood-worm. I could have sat there 
all the morning long, through noon, unto night. But at 
last the benediction would come ; and appropriating my share 
of it, I would slowly move away, thinking how I should like 
to go home with some of the portly old gentlemen, with 
high-polished boots and Malacca canes, and take a seat at 
their cosy and comfortable dinner-tables. But, alas ! there was 
no dinner for me except at the sign of the Baltimore Clipper. 

Yet the Sunday dinners that Handsome Mary served up 
were not to be scorned. The roast beef of Old England 
abounded ; and so did the immortal plum-puddings, and the* 
unspeakably capital gooseberry pies. But to finish ofT with 
that abominable swipes'" almost spoiled all the rest: not 
that I myself patronized “ swipes," but my shipmates did ; 
and every cup I saw them drink, I could not choose but 
taste in imagination, and even then the flavor was bad. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


259 


On Sundays, at dinner-time, as, indeed, on every other 
day, it was curious to watch the proceedings at the sign of 
the Clipper. The servant girls were running about, muster- 
ing the various crews, whose dinners were spread, each in a 
separate apartment ; and who were collectively known by 
the names of their ships. 

“ Where are the Arethusas ? — Here’s their beef been 
smoking this half-hour.” — “ Fly, Betty, my dear, here come 
the SplendicUy — “Run, Molly, my love; get the salt- 
cellars for the Highlanders ''' — “You Peggy, where’s the 
Siddons' pickle-pot?” — “I say, Judy, are you never coming 
with that pudding for the Lord Nelsons?" 

On week days, we did not fare quite so well as on Sundays ; 
and once we came to dinner, and found two enormous bullock 
hearts smoking at each end of the Highlanders’ table. Jack- 
son was indignant at the outrage. 

He always sat at the head of' the table ; and this time 
he squared himself on his bench, and erecting his knife and 
fork like flag-staffs, so as to include the two hearts between 
them, he called out for Danby, the boarding-house keeper ; 
for although his wife Mary was in fact at the head of the 
establishment, yet Danby himself always came in for the 
fault-findings. 

Danby obsequiously appeared, and stood in the door-way, 
well knowing the philippics that were coming. But he was 
not prepared for the peroration of Jackson’s address to him ; 
which consisted of the two bullock hearts, snatehed bodily 
off the dish, and flung at his head, by way of a recapitula- 
tion of the preceding arguments. The company then broke 
up in disgust, and dined elsewhere. 

Though I almost invariably attended church on Sunday 
mornings, yet the rest of the day I spent on my travels ; 
and it was on one of these afternoon strolls, that on passing 
through St. George’s-square, I found myself among a large 
crowd, gathered near the base of George the Fourth’s eques- 
trian statue. 


260 ' REDBURN: 


The people were mostly mechanics’ and artisans in their 
holiday clothes ; but mixed with them were a good many 
soldiers, in lean, lank, and dinnerless undresses, and sporting 
attenuated rattans. These troops belonged to the various 
regiments then in town. Police officers, also, were con- 
spicuous in their uniforms. At first perfect silence and de- 
corum prevailed. 

Addressing this orderly throng was a pale, hollow-eyed 
young man, in a snulT-colored surtout, who looked worn 
with much watching, or much toil, or too little food. His 
features were good, his whole air was respectable, and there 
was no mistaking the fact, that he was strongly in earnest 
in what he was saying. 

>*• In his hand was a soiled, inflammatory-looking pamphlet, 
from which he frequently read ; following up the quotations 
with nervous appeals to his hearers, a rolling of his eyes, 
and sometimes the most frantic gestures. I was not 'long 
within hearing of him, before I became aware that this 
youth was a Chartist. 

Presently the crowd increased, and some commotion was 
raised, when I noticed the police officers augmenting in 
number ; and by and by, they began to glide through the 
crowd, politely hinting at the propriety of dispersing. The 
first persons thus accosted were the soldiers, who accordingly 
sauntered off, switching their rattans, and admiring their 
high-polished shoes. It was plain that the Charter did not 
hang very heavy round their hearts. For the rest, they also 
gradually broke up ; and at last I saw the speaker himself 
depart. 

I do not know why, but I thought he must be some 
despairing elder son, supporting by hard toil his mother and 
sisters ; for of such many political desperadoes are made. 

That same Sunday afternoon, I strolled toward the out- 
sldrts of the town, and attracted by the sight of two great 
Pompey’s pillars, in the shape of black steeples, apparently 
rising directly from the soil, I approached them with much 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


261 


curiosity. But looking over a low parapet connecting 
them, what was my surprise to behold at my feet a smoky 
hollow in the ground, with rocky walls, and dark holes at 
one end, carrying out of view several lines of iron railways ; 
while far beyond, straight out toward the open country, ran 
an endless railroad. Over the place, a handsome Moorish 
arch of stone was flung ; and gradually, as I gazed upon 
it, and at the little side arches at the bottom of the hollow, 
there came over me an undefinable feeling, that I had 
previously seen the whole thing before. Yet how could 
that be ? Certainly, I had never been in Liverpool before : 
but then, that Moorish arch ! surely I remembered that very 
well. It was not till several months after reaching home 
in America, that my perplexity upon this matter was cleared 
away. In glancing over an old number of the Penny Maga- 
zine, there I saw a picture of the place to the life ; and 
remembered having seen the same print years previous. It 
was a representation of the spot where the Manchester rail- 
road enters the outskirts of the town. 


CHAPTER XLII. 


HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE CROSS OLD GENTLEMAN. 

My adventure in the News-Room in the Exchange, which 
I have related in a previous chapter, reminds me of another, 
at the Lyceum, some days after, which may as well he put 
down here, before I forget it. 

I was strolling down Bold-street, I think it was, when I 
was struck by the sight of a brown stone building, very large 
and handsome. The windows were open, and there, nicely 
seated, with their comfortable legs crossed over their com- 
fortable knees, I beheld several sedate, happy-looking old 
gentlemen reading the magazines and papers, and one had 
a fine gilded volume in his hand. 

Yes, this must be the Lyceum, thought I ; let me see. 
So I whipped out my guide-book, and opened it at the proper 
plate ; and sure enough, the building before me corresponded 
stone for stone. I stood awhile on the opposite side of the 
street, gazing at my picture, and then at its original ; and 
often dwelling upon the pleasant gentlemen sitting at the 
open windows ; till at last, I felt an uncontrollable impulse 
to step in for a moment, and run over the news. 

I’m a poor, friendless sailor-boy, thought I, and they can 
not object ; especially as I am from a foreign land, and 
strangers ought to be treated with courtesy. I turned the 
matter over again, as I walked across the way ; and with 
just a small tapping of a misgiving at my heart, I at last 
scraped my feet clean against the curb-stone, and taking off 
my hat while I was yet in the open air, slowly sauntered in. 

But I had not got far into that large and lofty room, 
filled with many agreeable sights, when a crabbed old gen* 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


263 


tlernen lifted up his eye from the London Times, which 
words I saw boldly printed on the back of the large sheet in 
his hand, and looking at me as if I were a strange dog with 
a muddy hide, that had stolen out of the gutter into this 
fine apartment, he shook his silver-headed cane at me fiercely, 
till the spectacles fell off his nose. Almost at the same mo- 
ment, up stepped a terribly cross man, who looked as if he 
had a mustard plaster on his back, that was continually 
exasperating him ; who throwing down some papers which 
he had been filing, took me by my innocent shoulders, and 
then, putting his foot against the broad part of my panta- 
loons, wheeled me right out into the street, and dropped me 
on the walk, without so much as offering an apology for the 
affront. I sprang after him, but in vain ; the door was 
closed upon me. 

These Englishmen have no manners, that’s plain, thought 
I ; and I trudged on down the. street in a reverie. 


N 


CHAPTER XLIII. 


HE TAKES A DELIGHTFUL RAMBLE INTO THE COUNTRY ; AND 
MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THREE ADORABLE CHARMERS. 

Who that dwells in America has not heard of the bright 
fields and green hedges of England, and longed to behold 
them ? Even so had it been with me ; and now that I was 
actually in England, I resolved not to go away without hav- 
ing a good, long look at the open fields. 

On a Sunday morning I started, with a lunch in my 
pocket. It was a beautiful day in July ; the air was sweet 
with the breath of buds and flowers, 'and there was a green 
splendor in the landscape that ravished me. Soon I gained 
an elevation commanding a wide sweep of view ; and mea- 
dow and mead, and woodland and hedge, were all around 
me. 

Ay, ay ! this was old England, indeed ! I had found it 
at last — there it was in the country ! Hovering over the 
scene was a soft, dewy air, that seemed faintly tinged with 
the green of the grass ; and I thought, as I breathed my 
breath, that perhaps I might he inhaling the very particles 
once respired by Rosamond the Fair. 

On I trudged along the London road — smooth as an entry 
floor — and every white cottage I passed, embosomed in honey- 
suckles, seemed alive in the landscape. 

But the day wore on ; and at length the sun grew hot ; 
and the long road became dusty. I thought that some 
shady place, in some shady field, would be very pleasant to 
repose in. So, coming to a charming little dale, undulating 
down to a hollow, arched over with foliage, I crossed over 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


265 


toward it ; but paused by the road-side at a frightful an- 
nouncement, nailed against an old tree, used as a gate-post — 

D;^ “ MAN-TRAPS AND SPRING-GUNS !” 

In America I had never heard of the like. What could 
it mean ? They were not surely cannibals, that dwelt 
down in that beautiful little dale, and lived by catching 
men, like weasels and beavers in Canada ! 

“ A man-trap It must be so. The announcement 
could bear but one meaning — that there was something near 
by, intended to catch human beings ; some species of mechan- 
ism, that would suddenly fasten upon the unwary rover, and 
hold him by the leg like a dog ; or, perhaps, devour him on 
the spot. 

Incredible ! In a Christian land, too ! Did that sweet 
lady. Queen Victoria, permit such diabolical practices ? Had 
her gracious majesty ever passed by this way, and seen the 
announcement ? 

And who put it there ? 

The proprietor, probably. 

And what right had he to do so ? 

Why, he owned the soil. 

And where are his title-deeds ? 

In his strong-box, I suppose. 

Thus I stood wrapt in cogitations. 

You are a pretty fellow, Wellingborough, thought I to 
myself ; you are a mighty traveler, indeed : — stopped on 
your travels by a man-trap! Do you think Mungo Park 
was so served in Africa ? Do you think Ledyard was so 
entreated in Siberia ? Upon my word, you will go home 
not very much wiser than when you set out ; and the only 
excuse you can give, for not having seen more sights, will be 
man-traps — 'tnan-traps, my masters ! that frightened you ! 

And then, in my indignation, I fell back upon first prin- 
ciples. What right has this man to the soil he thus guards 
with dragons ? What excessive effrontery, to lay sole claim 

M 


266 


RED BURN: 


to a solid piece of this planet, right down to the earth’s axis, 
and, perhaps, straight through to the antipodes ! For a 
moment I thought I would test his traps, and enter the for- 
bidden Eden. But the grass grew so thickly, and seemed 
so full of sly things, that at last I thought best to pace off. 

Next, I came to a hawthorn lane, leading down very 
prettily to a nice little church ; a mossy little church ; a 
beautiful little church ; just such a church as I had always 
dreamed to be in England. The porch was viny as an ar- 
bor ; the ivy was climbing about the tower ; and the bees 
were humming about the hoary old head-stones along the 
walls. 

Any man-traps here ? thought I — any spring-guns ? 

No. 

So I walked on, and entered the church, where I soon 
found a seat. No Indian, red as a deer, could have startled 
the simple people more. They gazed and they gazed ; but 
as I was all attention to the sermon, and conducted myself 
with perfect propriety, they did not expel me, as at first I 
almost imagined they might. 

Service over, I made my way through crowds of children, 
who stood staring at the marvelous stranger, and resumed 
my stroll along the London Road. 

My next stop was at an inn, where under a tree sat a 
party of rustics, drinking ale at a table. 

“ Good day/’ said I. * 

“ Good day ; from Liverpool ?” 

“ I guess so.” 

“ For London ?” 

“ No; not this time. ‘ I merely come to see the country.” 

At this, they gazed at each other; and I, at myself; 
having doubts whether I might not look something like a 
horse-thief 

“ Take a seat,” said the landlord, a fat fellow, with his 
wife’s apron on, I thought. 

“ Thank you.” 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


267 


And then, little by little, we got into a long talk : in the 
course of which, I told who I was, and where I was from. 
I found these rustics a good-natured, jolly set ; and I have 
no doubt they found me quite a sociable youth. They 
treated me to ale ; and I treated them to stories about 
America, concerning which, they manifested the utmost 
curiosity. One of them, however, was somewhat astonished 
that I had not made the acquaintance of a brother of his, 
who had resided somewhere on the banks of the Mississippi 
for several years past : but among twenty millions of people, 
I had never happened to meet him, at least to my knowl- 
edge. 

At last, leaving this party, I pursued my way, exhilarated 
by the lively conversation in which I had shared, and the 
pleasant sympathies exchanged : and perhaps, also, by the 
ale I had drunk : — fine old ale ; yes, English ale, ale brewed 
in England ! And I trod English soil ; and breathed En- 
glish air ; and every blade of grass was an Englishman born. 
Smoky old Liverpool, with all its pitch and tar was now far 
behind ; nothing in sight but open meadows and fields. 

Come, Wellingborough, why not push on for London ? — 
Hurra ! what say you ? let’s have a peep at St. Paul’s ! 
Don’t you want to see the queen ? Have you no longing to 
behold the duke ? Think of Westminster Abbey, and the 
Tunnel under the Thames ! Think of Hyde Park, and the 
ladies !” 

But then, thought I again, with my hands wildly groping 
in my two vacuums of pockets — who’s to pay the bill? — 
You can’t beg your way, Wellingborough ; that would never 
do ; for you are your father’s son, Wellingborough ; and you 
must not disgrace your family in a foreign land ; you must 
not turn pauper. 

Ah ! Ah ! it was indeed too true ; there was no St. 
Paul’s or Westminster Abbey for me ; that was flat. 

Well, well, up heart, you’ll see it one of these days. 

But think of it ! here I am on the very road that leads 


268 


REDBURN; 


to the Thames — think of that! — here I am — ay, treading 
in the wheel-tracks of coaches that are hound for the metrop- 
olis ! — It was too bad ; too bitterly bad. But I shoved my 
old hat over my brows, and walked on ; till at last I cama 
to a green bank, deliciously shaded by a fine old tree with 
broad branching arms, that stretched themselves over the 
road, like a hen gathering her brood under her wings. 
Down on the green grass I threw myself and there lay my 
head, like a last year’s nut. People passed by, on foot and 
in carriages, and little thought that the sad youth under the 
tree was the great-nephew of a late senator in the Ameri- 
can Congress. 

Presently, I started to my feet, as I heard a gruff voice 
behind me from the field, crying out — “What are you doing 
there, you young rascal ? — run away from the ,work’us, have 
ye ? Tramp, or I’ll set Blucher on ye !” 

And who was Blucher ? A cut-throat looking dog, with 
his black bull-muzzle thrust through a gap in the hedge. 
An^ his master ? A sturdy farmer, with an alarming 
cudgel in his hand. 

“ Come, are you going to start ?” he cried. 

“ Presently,” said I, making off with great dispatch. 
When I had got a few yards into the middle of the high- 
road (which belonged as much to me as it did to the queen 
herself), I turned round, like a man on his own premises, 
and said — “ Stranger ! if you ever visit America, just call 
at our house, and you’ll always find there a dinner and a 
bed. Don’t fail.” 

I then walked on -toward Liverpool, full of sad thoughts 
concerning the cold charities of the world, and the infamous 
reception given to hapless young travelers, in broken-down 
shooting-j ackets. 

On, on I went, along the skirts of forbidden green fields ; 
until reaching a cottage, before which I stood rooted. 

So sweet a place I had never seen : no palace in Persia 
could be pleasanter ; there were flowers in the garden ; and 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


269 


six red cheeks, like six moss-roses, hanging from the case- 
ment. At the embowered door-way, sat an old man, con- 
fidentially communing with his pipe : while a little child, 
sprawling on the ground, was playing with his shoe-strings. 
A hale matron, but with rather a prim expression, was 
reading a journal by his side: and three charmers, three 
Peris, three Houris ! were leaning out of the window close 
by. 

Ah ! Wellingborough, don’t you wish you could step in ? 

With a heavy heart at this cheerful sight, I was turning 
to go, when — is it possible ? the old man called me back, 
and invited me in. 

“ Come, come,” said he, “ you look as if you had walked 
far ; come, take a bowl of milk. Matilda, my dear” (how 
my heart jumped) “go fetch some from the dairy.” And the 
white-handed angel did meekly obey, and handed me — me, 
the vagabond, a bowl of bubbling milk, which I could hardly 
drink down, for gazing at the dew on her lips. 

As I live, I could have married that charmer on the spot ! 

She was by far the most beautiful rosebud I had yet seen 
in England. But I endeavored to dissemble my ardent ad- 
miration ; and in order to do away at once with any unfa- 
vorable impressions arising from the close scrutiny of my 
miserable shooting-jacket, which was now taking place, I 
declared myself a Yankee sailor from Liverpool, who was 
spending a Sunday in the country. 

“ And have you been to church to-day, young man ?” said 
the old lady, looking daggers. 

“ Good madam, I have ; the little church down yonder, 
you know — a most excellent sermon — I am much the better 
for it.” 

I wanted to mollify this severe looking old lady ; for even 
my short experience of old ladies had convinced me that they 
are the hereditary enemies of all strange young men. 

I soon turned the conversation toward America, a theme 
which I knew would be interesting, and upon which I could 


REDBURN; 




be fluent and agreeable. I strove to talk in Addisonian En- 
glish, and ere long could see very plainly -that my polished 
phrases were making a surprising impression, though that 
miserable shooting-jacket of mine was a perpetual drawback 
to my claims to gentility. 

Spite of all my blandishments, however, the old lady stood 
her post like a sentry ; and to my inexpressible chagrin, kept 
the three charmers in the back ground, though the old man 
frequently called upon them to advance. This fine speci- 
men of an old Englishman seemed to be quite as free from 
ungenerous suspicions as his vinegary spouse was full of them. 
But I still lingered, snatching furtive glances at the young 
ladies, and vehemently talking to the old man about Illinois, 
and the river Ohio, and the fine farms in the Genesee country, 
where, in harvest time, the laborers went into the wheat 
fields a thousand strong. 

Stick to it, Wellingborough; thought I ; don’t give the 
old lady time to think ; stick to it, my boy, and an invitation 
to tea will reward you. At last it came, and the old lady 
abated her frowns. 

It was the most delightful of meals ; the three charmers 
sat all on one side, and I opposite, between the old man and 
his wife. The middle charmer poured out the souchong, 
and handed me the buttered muffins ; and such buttered 
muffins never were spread on the other side of the Atlantic. 
The butter had an aromatic flavor ; by Jove, it was per- 
fectly delicious. 

And there they sat — the charmers, I mean — eating these 
buttered muffins in plain sight. I wished I was a buttered 
muffin myself Every minute they grew handsomer and 
handsomer ; and I could not help thinking what a fine 
thing it would be to carry home a beautiful English wife I 
how my friends would stare ! a lady from England ! 

I might have been mistaken ; but certainly I thought 
that Matilda, the one who had handed me the milk, some- 
times looked rather benevolently in the direction where I sat 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


271 


She certainly did look at my jacket ; and I am constrained 
to think at my face. Could it he possible she had fallen in 
love at first sight ? Oh, rapture ! But oh, misery ! that 
was out of the question ; for what a looking suitor was Wei-' 
lingborough ? 

At length, the old lady glanced toward the door, and 
made some observations about its being yet a long walk to 
town. She handed me the buttered muffins, too, as if per- 
forming a final act of hospitality ; and in other fidgety ways 
vaguely hinted her desire that I should decamp. 

Slowly I rose, and murmured my thanks, and bowed, and 
tried to be off*, but as quickly I turned, and bowed, and 
thanked, and lingered again and again. Oh, charmers ! oh, 
Peris ! thought I, must I go ? Yes, Wellingborough, you 
must ; so I made one desperate congee, and darted through 
the door. 

I have never seen them since ; no, nor heard of them ; 
but to this day I live a bachelor on account of those ravish- 
ing charmers ! 

As the long twilight was waning deeper and deeper into 
night, I entered the town ; and, plodding my solitary way 
to the same old docks, I passed through the gates, and 
scrambled my way among tarry smells, across the tiers of 
ships between the quay and the Highlander. My only re- 
source was my bunk ; in I turned, and, wearied with my 
long stroll, was soon fast asleep, dreaming of red cheeks and 
roses. 


CHAPTER XLIV. 


REDBURN INTRODUCES MASTER HARRY BOLTON TO THE FAVOR- 
ABLE CONSIDERATION OF THE READER. 

It was the day following my Sunday stroll into the 
country, and when I had been in England four weeks or 
more, that I made the acquaintance of a handsome, accom- 
plished, but unfortunate youth, young Harry Bolton. He 
was one of those small, but perfectly formed beings, with 
curling hair, and silken muscles, who seem to have been 
born in cocoons. His complexion was a mantling brunette, 
feminine as a girl’s ; his feet were small ; his hands were 
white ; and his eyes were large, black, and womanly ; and, 
poetry aside, his voice was as the sound of a harp. 

But where, among the tarry docks, and smoky sailor-lanes 
and by-ways of a seaport, did I, a battered Yankee boy, 
encounter this courtly youth ? 

Several evenings I had noticed him in our street of board- 
ing-houses, standing in the doorways, and silently regarding 
the animated scenes without. His beauty, dress, and man- 
ner struck me as so out of place in such a street, that I 
could not possibly divine what had transplanted this delicate 
exotic from the conservatories of some Regent-street to the 
untidy potato-patches of Liverpool. 

At last I suddenly encountered him at the sign of the 
Baltimore Clipper. He was speaking to one of my ship- 
mates concerning America ; and from something that dropped, 
I was led to imagine that he contemplated a voyage to my 
country. Charmed with his appearance, and all eagerness 
to enjoy the society of this incontrovertible son of a gentle- 
man — a kind of pleasure so long debarred me — I smoothed 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


273 


down the skirts of my jacket, and at once accosted him ; 
declaring who I was, and that nothing would afford me 
greater delight than to be of the least service, in imparting 
any information concerning America that he needed. 

He glanced from my face to my jacket, and from my 
jacket to my face, and at length, with a pleased but some- 
what puzzled expression, begged me to accompany him on a 
walk. 

We rambled about St. George’s Pier until nearly mid- 
night ; but before we parted, wdth uncommon frankness, he 
told me many strange things respecting his history. 

According to his own account, Harry Bolton was a native 
of Bury St. Edmunds, a borough in Suffolk, not very far 
from London, where he was early left an orphan, under the 
charge of an only aunt. Between his aunt and himself, his 
mother had divided her fortune ; and young Harry thus fell 
heir to a portion of about five thousand pounds. 

Being of a roving mind, as he approached his majority he 
grew restless of the retirement of a country place ; especially 
as he had no profession or business of any kind to engage 
his attention. 

In vain did Bury, with all its fine old monastic attrac- 
tions, lure him to abide on the beautiful banks of her Larke, 
and under the shadow of her stately and storied old Saxon 
tower. 

By all my rare old historic associations, breathed Bury ; 
by my Abbey-gate, that bears to this day the arms of 
Edward the Confessor ; by my carved roof of the old church 
of St. Mary’s, which escaped the low rage of the bigoted 
Puritans; by the royal ashes of Mary Tudor, that sleep in 
my midst ; by my Norman ruins, and by all the old abbots 
of Bury, do not, oh Harry ! abandon me. Where will you 
find shadier walks than under my lime-trees ? where lovelier 
gardens than those within the old walls of my monastery, 
approached through my lordly Gate ? Or if, oh Harry ! 
indifferent to my historic mosses, and caring not for my 

M* 


274 


KEDBURN: 


annual verdure, thou must needs be lured by other tassels, 
and wouldst fain, like the Prodigal, squander thy patrimony, 
then, go not away from old Bury to do it. For here, on 
Angel-Hill, are my coffee and card-rooms, and billiard saloons, 
where you may lounge away your mornings, and empty your 
glass and your purse as you list. 

In vain. Bury was no place for the adventurous Harry, 
who must needs hie to London, where in one winter, in the 
company of gambling sportsmen and dandies, he lost his last 
sovereign. 

What now was to be done ? His friends made interest for 
him in the requisite quarters, and Harry was soon embarked 
for Bombay, as a midshipman in the East India service ; in 
which office he was known as a ^‘guinea-pig,'" a humorous 
appellation then bestowed upon the middies of the Company. 
And considering the perversity of his behavior, his delicate 
form, and soft complexion, and that gold guineas had been 
his bane, this appellation was not altogether, in poor Harry’s 
case, inapplicable. 

He made one voyage, and returned ; another, and returned ; 
and then threw up his warrant in disgust. A few weeks’ 
dissipation in London, and again his purse was almost drained ; 
when, like many prodigals, scorning to return home to his 
aunt, and amend — though she had often written him the 
kindest of letters to that effect — Harry resolved to precipitate 
himself upon the New World, and there carve out a fresh 
fortune. 

With this object in view, he packed his trunks, and took 
the first train for Liverpool. Arrived in that town, he at 
- once betook himself to the docks, to examine the American 
shipping, when a new crotchet entered his brain, born of his 
old sea reminiscences. It was to assume duck trowsers and 
tarpaulin, and gallantly cross the Atlantic as a sailor. There 
was a dash of romance in it ; a taking abandonment ; and 
a scorn of fine coats, which exactly harmonized with his 
reckless contempt, at the time, for all past conventionalities. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


275 


Thus determined, he exchanged his trunk for a mahogany 
chest ; sold some of his superfluities ; and moved his quarters 
to the sign of the Gold Anchor in Union-street. 

After making his acquaintance, and learning his intentions, 
I was all anxiety that Harry should accompany me home 
in the Highlander, a desire to which he warmly responded. 

Nor was I without strong hopes that he would succeed 
in an application to the captain ; inasmuch as during our 
stay in the docks, three of our crew had left us, and their 
places would remain unsupplied till just upon the eve of our 
departure. 

And here, it may as well be related, that owing to the 
heavy charges to which the American ships long staying in 
Liverpool are subjected, from the obligation to continue the 
wages of their seamen, when they have little or no work to 
employ them, and from the necessity of boarding them ashore, 
like lords, at their leisure, captains interested in the owner- 
ship of their vessels, are not at all indisposed to let their 
sailors abscond, if they please, and thus forfeit their money ; 
for they well know that, when wanted, a new crew is easily 
to be procured, through the crimps of the port. 

Though he spake English with fluency, and from his long 
service in the vessels of New York, was almost an American 
to behold, yet Captain Riga was in fact a Russian by birth, 
though this was a fact that he strove to conceal. And 
though extravagant in his personal expenses, and even in- 
dulging in luxurious habits, costly as Oriental dissipation, 
yet Captain Riga was a niggard to others ; as, indeed, was 
evinced in the magnificent stipend of three dollars, with which 
he requited my own valuable services. Therefore, as it was 
agreed between Harry and me, that he should offer to ship 
as a at the same rate of compensation witn myself, 

I made no doubt that, incited by the cheapness of the bar- 
gain, Captain Riga would gladly close with h:m ; and thus, 
instead of paying sixteen dollars a month to a thorough-going 
tar, who would consume all his rations, Duy up my young 


276 


REDBURN; 


blade of Bury, at the rate of half a dollar a week ; with the 
cheering prospect, that by the end of the voyage, his fastid* 
ions palate would be the means of leaving a handsome balance 
of salt beef and pork in the harness-cask. 

With part of the money obtained by the sale of a few of 
his velvet vests, Harry, by, my advice, now rigged himself 
in a Guernsey frock and man-of-war trowsers ; and thus 
equipped, he made his appearance, one fine morning, on the 
quarter-deck of the Highlander, gallantly doffing his virgin 
tarpaulin before the redoubtable Riga. 

No sooner were his wishes made known, than I perceived 
in the captain’s face that same bland, benevolent, and be- 
witchingly merry expression, that had so charmed, but 
deceived me, when, with Mr. Jones, I had first accosted 
him in the cabin. 

Alas, Harry ! thought I, — as I stood upon the forecastle 
looking astern where they stood, — that “ gallant, gay de- 
ceiver"' shall not altogether cajole you, if Wellingborough 
can help it. Rather than that should be the case, indeed, 
I would forfeit the pleasure of your society across the At- 
lantic. 

At this interesting interview the captain expressed a sym- 
pathetic concern touching the sad necessities, which he took 
upon himself to presume must have driven Harry to sea ; he 
confessed to a warm interest in his future welfare ; and did 
not hesitate to declare that, in going to America, under such 
circumstances, to seek his fortune, he was acting a manly 
and spirited part ; and that the voyage thither, as a sailor, 
would be an invigorating preparative to the landing upon a 
shore, where he must battle out his fortune with Fate. 

He engaged him at once ; but was sorry to say, that he 
could not provide him a home on board till the day previous 
to the sailing of the ship ; and during the interval, he could 
not honor any drafts upon the strength of his wages. 

However, glad enough to conclude the agreement upon 
any terms at all, my young blade of Bury expressed his sat- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


277 


isfaction ; and full of admiration at so urbane and gentle- 
manly a sea-captain, he came forward to receive my con- 
gratulations. 

“ Harry,” said I, “ be not deceived by the fascinating 
Riga — that gay Lothario of all inexperienced, sea-going 
youths, from the capital or the country ; he has a Janus- 
face, Harry ; and you will not know him when he gets you 
out of sight of land, and mounts his cast-off coats and 
trowsers. For then he is another personage altogether, and 
adjusts his character to the shabbiness of his integuments. 
No more condolings and sympathy then ; no more blarney ; 
he will hold you a little better than his boots, and would 
no more think of addressing you than of invoking wooden 
Donald, the figure-head on our bows.” 

And I further admonished my friend concerning our crew, 
particularly of the diabolical Jackson, and warned him to be 
cautious and wary. I told him, that unless he was some- 
what accustomed to the rigging, and could furl a royal in a 
squall, he would be sure to subject himself to a sort of treat- 
ment from the sailors, in the last degree ignominious to any 
mortal who had ever crossed his legs under mahogany. 

And I played the inquisitor, in cross-questioning Harry 
respecting the precise degree in which he was a practical 

sailor ; whether he had a giddy head ; whether his arms 

could bear the weight of his body ; whether, with but one 
hand on a shroud, a hundred feet aloft in a tempest, he felt 
he could look right to windward and beard it. 

To all this, and much more, Harry rejoined with the 
most off-hand and confident air ; saying that in his “ guinea- 
pig’^ days, he had often climbed the masts and handled the 
sails in a gentlemanly and amateur way; so he made no 
doubt that he would very soon prove an expert tumbler in 
the Highlander’s rigging. 

His levity of manner, and sanguine assurance, coupled 
with the constant sight of his most unseamanlike person — 
more suited to the Queen’s drawing-room than a ship’s fore- 


t 


278 


REDBURN; 


castle — ^bred many misgivings in my mind. But after all, 
every one in this -world has his o-wn fate intrusted to him- 
self; and though w^e may warn, and forewarn, and give 
sage advice, and indulge in many apprehensions touching 
our friends ; yet our friends, for the most part, will “ gang 
their ain gate and the most we can do is, to hope for 
the best. Still, I suggested to Harry, whether he had not 
best cross the sea as a steerage passenger, since he could 
procure enough money for that ; but no, he was bent upon 
going as a sailor. 

I now had a comrade in my afternoon strolls, and Sun- 
day excursions ; and as Harry was a generous fellow, he 
shared with me his purse and his heart. He sold off sev- 
eral more of his fine vests and trowsers, his silver-keyed 
flute and enameled guitar ; and a portion of the money 
thus furnished was pleasantly spent in refreshing ourselves 
at the road-side inns in the vicinity of the town. 

Reclining side by side in some agreeable nook, we ex- 
changed our experiences of the past. Harry enlarged upon 
the fascinations of a London life ; described the curricle he 
used to drive in Hyde Park ; gave me the measurement of 
Madame Vestris’ ankle ; alluded to his first introduction at 
a club to the madcap Marquis of Waterford ; told over the 
sums he had lost upon the turf on a Derby day ; and made 
various but enigmatical allusions to a certain Lady Georgi- 
ana Theresa, the noble daughter of an anonymous earl. 

Even in conversation, Harry was a prodigal ; squander- 
ing his aristocratic narrations with a careless hand ; and, per- 
haps, sometimes spending funds of reminiscences not his own. 

As for me, I had only my poor old uncle the senator to 
fall back upon ; and I used him upon all emergencies, like 
the knight in the game of chess ; making him hop about, 
and stand stifly up to the encounter, against all my fine 
comrade’s array of dukes, lords, curricles, and countesses. 

In these long talks of ours, I frequently expressed the 
earnest desire I cherished, to make a visit to London ; and 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


279 


related how strongly tempted I had been one Sunday, to 
walk the whole way, without a penny in my pocket. To 
this, Harry rejoined, that nothing would delight him more, 
than to show me the capital ; and he even meaningly but 
mysteriously hinted at the possibility of his doing so, before 
many days had passed. But this seemed so idle a thought, 
that I only imputed it to my friend’s good-natured, rattling 
disposition, which sometimes prompted him to out with any 
thing, that he thought would he agreeable. Besides, would 
this fine blade of Bury be seen, by his aristocratic acquaint- 
ances, walking down Oxford-street, say, arm in arm with 
the sleeve of my shooting-jacket ? The thing was prepos- 
terous ; and I began to think, that Harry, after all, was a 
little bit disposed to impose upon my Yankee credulity. 

Luckily, my Bury blade had no acquaintance in Liver- 
pool, where, indeed, he was as much in a foreign land, as if 
he were already on the shores of Lake Erie ; so that he 
strolled about with me in perfect abandonment ; reckless of 
the cut of my shooting-jacket ; and not caring one whit who 
might stare at so singular a couple. 

But once, crossing a square, faced on one side by a fash- 
ionable hotel, he made a rapid turn with me round a comer ; 
and never stopped, till the square was a good block in our 
rear. The cause of this sudden retreat, was a remarkably 
elegant coat and pantaloons, standing upright on the hotel 
steps, and containing a young buck, tapping his teeth with 
an ivory-headed riding- whip. 

“ Who was he„ Harry ?” said I. 

“ My old chum. Lord Lovely,” said Harry, with a care- 
less air, “ and Heaven only knows what brings Lovely from 
London.” 

“ A lord ?” said I,‘ starting ; “ then I must look at him 
again ;” for lords are very scarce in Liverpool. 

Unmindful of my companion’s remonstrances, I ran back 
to the corner ; and slowly promenaded past the upright coat 
and pantaloons on the steps 


280 


RE DBURN: 


It was not much of a lord to behold ; very thin and 
limber about the legs, with small feet like a doll’s, and a 
small, glossy head like a seal’s. I had seen just such look- 
ing lords standing in sentimental attitudes in front of Palmo’s 
in Broadway. 

However, he and I being mutual friends of Harry’s, I 
thought something of accosting him, and taking counsel 
concerning what was best to be done for the young prodigal’s 
welfare ; but upon second thoughts I thought best not to in- 
trude ; especially, as just then my lord Lovely stepped to 
the open window of a flashing carriage which drew up ; 
and throwing himself into an interesting posture, with the 
sole of one boot vertically exposed, so as to show the stamp 
on it — a coronet — fell into a sparkling conversation with a 
magnificent white satin hat, surmounted by a regal marabout 
feather, inside. 

I doubted not, this lady was nothing short of a peeress ; 
and thought it would be one of the pleasantest and most 
charming things in the world, just to seat myself beside her, 
and order the coachman to take us a drive into the country. 

But, as upon further consideration, I imagined that the 
peeress might decline the honor of my company, since I had 
no formal card of introduction ; I marched on, and rejoined 
my companion, whom I at once endeavored to draw out, 
touching Lord Lovely ; but he only made mysterious an- 
swers ; and turned off the conversation, by allusions to his 
visits to Ick worth in Suffolk, the magnificent seat of the 
Most Noble Marquis of Bristol, who had repeatedly assured 
Harry that he might consider Ickworth his home. 

Now, all these accounts of marquises and Ickworths, and 
Harry’s having been hand in glove with so many lords and 
ladies, began to breed some suspicions concerning the rigid 
morality of my friend, as a teller of the truth. But, after 
all, thought I to myself, who can prove that Harry has 
fibbed ? Certainly, his manners are polished, he has a 
mighty easy address ; and there is nothing altogether impos- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


281 


sible about his having consorted with the master of Ickworth, 
and the daughter of the anonymous earl. And what right 
has a poor Yanltee, like me, to insinuate the slightest sus« 
picion against what he says ? What little money he has, 
he spends freely ; he can not be a polite blackleg, for I am 
no pigeon to pluck ; so that is out of the question ; — perish 
such a thought, concerning my own bosom friend I 

But though I drowned all my suspicions as well as I 
could, and ever cherished toward Harry a heart, loving and 
true ; yet, spite of all this, I never could entirely digest some 
of his imperial reminiscences of high life. I was very sorry 
for this ; as at times it made me feel ill at ease in his com- 
pany ; and made me hold back my whole soul from him ; 
when, in its loneliness, it was yearning to throw itself into 
the unbounded bosom of some immaculate friend. 


CHAPTER XLV. 


HARRY BOLTON KIDNAPS REDBURN, AND CARRIES HIM OFF TO 
LONDON. 

It might have been a week after our glimpse of Lord 
Lovely, that tiarry, who had been expecting a letter, which, 
he told me, might possibly alter his plans ; one afternoon 
came bounding on board the ship, and sprang down the 
hatchway into the between-decks, where, in perfect solitude, 
I was engaged picking oakum ; at which business the mate 
had set me, for want of any thing better. 

“Hey for London, Wellingborough!” he cried. “Off 
to-morrow ! first train — be there the same night — come ! I 
have money to rig you all out — drop that hangman’s stuff 
there, and away ! Pah ! how it smells here ! Come ; up 
you jump !” 

I trembled with amazement and delight. 

London? it could not be ! — and Harry — how kind of 
him ! he was then indeed what he seemed. But instantly 
I thought of all the circumstances of the case, and was eager 
to know what it was that had induced this sudden departure. 

In reply my friend told me, that he had received a re- 
mittance, and had hopes of recovering a considerable sum, 
lost in some way that he chose to conceal. 

“ But how am I to leave the ship, Harry V said I ; 
“they will not let me go, will they? You had better 
leave me behind, after all ; I don’t care very much about 
going ; and besides, I have no money to share the expenses.” 

This I said, only pretending indifference, for my heart 
was jumping all the time. •• 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


283 


“ Tut I my Yankee bantam,” said Harry ; “ look here !” 
and he showed me a handful of gold. 

“ But they are yours, and not mine, Harry,” said I. 

“ Yours and mine, my sweet fellow,” exclaimed Harry. 
“ Come, sink the ship, and let’s 'go !” 

“ But you don’t consider, if I quit the ship, they’ll he 
sending a constable after me, won’t they ?” 

“ What ! and do you think, then, they value your services 
so highly ? Ha ! ha ! — Up, up, Wellingborough : I can’t 
wait.” 

True enough. I well knew that Captain Riga would 
not trouble himself much, if I did take French leave of him. 
So, without further thought of the matter, I told Harry to 
wait a few moments, till the ship’s bell struck four ; at which 
time I used to go to supper, and be free for the rest of the day. 

The bell struck ; and off we went. As we hurried across 
the quay, and along the dock walls, I asked Harry all 
about his intentions. He said, that go to London he must, 
and to Bury St. Edmund’s ; but that whether he should for 
any time remain at either place, he could not now tell ; and 
it was by no means impossible, that in less than a week’s 
time we would be back again in Liverpool, and ready for 
sea. But all he said was enveloped in a mystery that I did 
not much like ; and I hardly know whether I have repeated 
correctly what he said at the time. 

Arrived a^ the Golden Anchor, where Harry put up, he 
at once led me to his room, and began turning over the con- 
tents of his chest, to see what clothing he might have, that 
would fit me. 

Though he was some years my senior, we were about the 
same size — if any thing, I was larger than he ; so, with a 
little stretching, a shirt, vest, and pantaloons were soon 
found to suit. As for a coat and hat, those Harry ran out 
and bought without delay ; returning with a loose, stylish 
sack-coat, and a sort of foraging cap, very neat, genteel, and 
unpretending. 


284 


RE DBURN: 


My friend himself soon doffed his Guernsey frock, and 
stood before me, arrayed in a perfectly plain suit, which he 
had bought on purpose that very morning. I asked him 
why he had gone to that unnecessary expense, when he had 
plenty of other clothes in his chest. But he only winked, 
and looked knowing. This, again, I did not like. But 
I strove to drown ugly thoughts. 

Till quite dark, we sat talking together ; when, locking 
his chest, and charging his landlady to look after it well, till 
he called, or sent for it ; Harry seized my arm, and we sal- 
lied into the street. 

Pursuing our way through crowds of frolicking sailors and 
fiddlers, we turned into a street leading to the Exchange. 
There, under the shadow of the colonnade, Harry told me to 
stop, while he left me, and went to finish his toilet. Won- 
dering what he meant, I stood to one side ; and presently 
was joined by a stranger in whiskers and mustache. 

“ It’s me^ said the stranger ; and who was me but Harry, 
who had thus metamorphosed himself? I asked him the 
reason ; and in a faltering voice, which I tried to make hu- 
morous, expressed a hope that he was not going to turn 
gentleman forger. 

He laughed, and assured me that it was only a precau- 
tion against being recognized by his own particular friends 
in London, that he had adopted this mode of disguising 
himself 

“ And why afraid of your friends ?” asked T, in astonish' 
ment, “ and we are not in London yet.” 

“ Pshaw ! what a Yankee you are, Wellingborough 
Can’t you see very plainly that I have a plan in my head ? 
And this disguise is only for a short time, you know. But 
I’ll tell you all by and by.” 

.1 acquiesced, though not feeling at ease ; and we walked 
on, till we came to a public house, in the vicinity of the 
place at which the cars are taken. 

We stopped there that night, and next day were off, 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


285 


whirled along through boundless landscapes of villages, and 
meadows, and parks : and over arching viaducts, and through 
wonderful tunnels ; till, half delirious with excitement, I 
found inyself dropped down in the evening among gas-lights, 
under a great roof in Euston Square. 

London at last, and in the West-End ! 


- CHAPTER XLVI. 


A MYSTERIOUS NIGHT IN LONDON. 

“ No time to lose,” said Harry, “ come along.” 

He called a cab : in an under tone mentioned the number 
of a house in some street to the driver ; we jumped in, and 
were off. 

As we rattled over the boisterous pavements, past splendid 
squares, churches, and shops, our cabman turning corners 
like a skater on the ice, and all the roar of London in my 
ears, and no end to the walls of brick and mortar ; I thought 
New York a hamlet, and Liverpool a coal-hole, and myself 
somebody else : so unreal seemed every thing about me. 
My head was spinning round like a top, and my eyes ached 
with much gazing ; particularly about the corners, owing 
to my darting them so rapidly, first this side, and then that, 
so as not to miss any thing ; though, in truth, I missed 
much. 

“ Stop,” cried Harry, after a long while, putting his head 
out of the window, all at once — “ stop ! do you hear, you 
deaf man? you have passed the house — No. 40 I told you 
— that’s it — the high steps there, with the purple light !” 

The cabman being paid, Harry adjusting his whiskers and 
mustache, and bidding me assume a lounging look, pushed 
his hat a little to one side, and then locking arms, we saun- 
tered into the house ; myself feeling not a little abashed ; it 
was so long since I had been in any courtly society. 

It was some semi-public place of opulent entertainment ; 
and far surpassed any thing of the kind I had ever seen 
before. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE 


287 


The floor was tesselated with snow-white, and russet-hued 
marbles ; and echoed to the tread, as if all the Paris cata- 
combs were underneath. I started with misgivings at that 
hollow, boding sound, which seemed sighing with a subter- 
aneous despair, through all the magnificent spectacle around 
me ; mocking it, where most it glared. 

The walls were painted so as to deceive the eye with 
interminable colonnades ; and groups of columns of the finest 
Scagliola work of variegated marbles — emerald-green and 
gold, St. Pons veined with silver, Sienna with porphyry — 
supported a resplendent fresco ceiling, arched like a bower, 
and thickly clustering with mimic grapes. Through all the 
East of this foliage, you spied in a crimson dawn, Guido’s' 
ever youthful Apollo, driving forth the horses of the sun. 
From sculptured stalactites of vine-boughs, here and there 
pendent hung galaxies of gas lights, whose vivid glare was 
softened by pale, cream-colored, porcelain spheres, shedding 
over the place a serene, silver flood ; as if every porcelain 
sphere were a moon ; and -this superb apartment was the 
moon-lit garden of Portia at Belmont; and the gentle 
lovers, Lorenzo and Jessica, lurked somewhere among the 
vines. 

At numerous Moorish looking tables, supported by Cary- 
atides of turbaned slaves, sat knots of gentlemanly men, 
with cut decanters and taper- waisted glasses, journals and 
cigars, before them. 

To and fro ran obsequious waiters, with spotless napkins 
thrown over their arms, and making a profound salaam, and 
hemming deferentially, whenever they uttered a word. 

At the further end of this brilliant apartment, was a 
rich mahogony turret-like structure, partly built into the 
wall, and communicating with rooms in the rear. Behind, 
was a very handsome florid old man, with snow-white hair 
and whiskers, and in a snow-white jacket — he looked like 
an almond tree in blossom — who seemed to be standing, a 
■)olite sentry over the scene before him ; and it was he, who 


288 


RED BURN: 


mostly ordered about the waiters ; and with a silent salute, 
received the silver of the guests. 

Our entrance excited little or no notice ; for every body 
present seemed exceedingly animated about concerns of their 
own ; and a large group was gathered around on6 tall, 
military looking gentleman, who was reading some India 
war-news from the Times, and commenting on it, in a very 
loud voice, condemning, in toto, the entire campaign. 

We seated ourselves apart from this group, and Harry, 
rapping on the table, called for wine ; mentioning some 
curious foreign name. 

The decanter, filled with a pale yellow wine, being placed 
before us, and my comrade having drunk a few glasses ; he 
whispered me to remain where I was, while he withdrew 
for a moment. 

I saw him advance to the turret-like place, and exchange 
a confidential word with the almond tree there, who imme- 
diately looked very much surprised, — I thought, a little dis- 
concerted, — and then disappeared with him. 

While my friend was gone, I occupied myself with looking 
around me, and striving to appear as indifferent as possible, 
and as much used to all this splendor as if I had been born 
in it. But, to tell the truth, my head was almost dizzy 
with the strangeness of the sight, and the thought that I 
was really in London. What would my brother have said ? 
What would Tom Legare, the treasurer of the Juvenile 
Temperance Society, have thought ? 

But I almost began to fancy I had no friends and relatives 
living in a little village three thousand five hundred miles 
off, in America ; for it was hard to unite such a humble 
reminiscence with the splendid animation of the London-like 
scene around me. 

And in the delirium of the moment, I began to indulge 
in foolish golden visions of the counts and countesses to 
whom Harry might introduce me ; and every instant I ex- 
pected to hear the waiters addressing some gentleman as 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


289 


h 


My Lord,'‘' or ^‘Your Graced But if there were really 
any lords present, the waiters omitted their titles, at least in 
my hearing. 

Mixed with these thoughts were confused visions of St. 
Paul’s and the Strand, which I determined to visit the very 
next morning, before breakfast, or perish in the attempt. 
And I even longed for Harry’s return, that we might imme- 
diately sally out into the street, and see some of the sights, 
before the shops were all closed for the night. 

While I thus sat alone, 1 observed one of the waiters 
eying me a little impertinently, as I thought, and as if 
he saw something queer about me. So I tried to as- 
sume a careless and lordly air, and by way of helping the 
thing, threw one leg over the other, like a young Prince 
Esterhazy ; but all the time I felt my face burning with 
embarrassment, and for the time, I must have looked very 
guilty of something. But spite of this, I kept looking boldly 
out of my eyes, and straight through my blushes, and ob- 
served that every now and then little parties were made up 
among the gentlemen, and they retired into the rear of the 
house, as if going to a private apartment. And I overheard 
one of them drop the word Rouge ; but he could not have 
used rouge, for his face was exceedingly pale. Another said 
something about Loo. 

At last Harry came back, his face rather flushed. 

“ Come along, Redburn,” said he. 

So making no doubt we were off for a ramble, perhaps to 
Apsley House, in the Park, to get a sly peep at the old 
Duke before he retired for the night, for Harry had told me 
the Duke always went to bed early, I sprang up to follow 
him ; but what was my disappointment and surprise, when 
he only led me into the passage, toward a staircase lighted 
by three marble Graces, unitedly holding a broad candelabra, 
like an elk’s antlers, over the landing. 

We rambled up the long, winding slope of those aristo- 
cratic stairs, every step of which, covered with Turkey rugs, 

N 


290 


RE DBURN; 


looked gorgeous as the hammer-cloth of the Lord Mayor’s 
coach; and Harry hied straight to a rosewood door, which, 
on magical hinges, sprang softly open to his touch. 

As M^e entered the room, methought I was slowly sinking 
in some reluctant, sedgy sea ; so thick and elastic the Persian 
carpeting, mimicking parterres of tulips, and roses, and jon 
quils, like a bower in Babylon. 

Long lounges lay carelessly disposed, whose fine damask 
was interwoven, like the Gobelin tapestry, with pictorial 
tales of tilt and tourney. And oriental ottomans, whose 
cunning warp and woof were wrought into plaited serpents, 
undulating beneath beds of leaves, from which, here and 
there, they flashed out sudden splendors of green scales and 
gold. 

In the broad bay windows, as the hollows of King Charles’ 
oaks, were Laocoon-like chairs, in the antique taste, draped 
with heavy fringes of bullion and silk. 

The walls, covered with a sort of tartan-French paper, 
u'iegated with bars of velvet, were hung round with mytho- 
logical oil-paintings, suspended by tasseled cords of twisted 
silver and blue. 

They were such pictures as the high-priests, for a bribe, 
showed to Alexander in the innermost shrine of the white 
temple in the Libyan oasis : such pictures as the pontiff of 
the sun strove to hide from Cortez, when, sword in hand, he 
burst open the sanctorum of the pyramid-fane at Cholula : 
such pictures as you may still see, perhaps, in the central 

alcove of the excavated mansion of Pansa, in Pompeii in 

that part of it called by Varro the hollow of the house: such 
pictures as Martial and Seutonius mention as being found in 
the private cabinet of the Emperor Tiberius : such pictures 
as are delineated on the bronze medals, to this day dug up 
on the ancient island of Caprcje : such pictures as you might 
have beheld in an arched recess, leading from the left hand 
of the secret side-gallery of the temple of Aphrodite in 
Corinth. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


291 


In the principal pier was a marble bracket, sculptured in 
the semblance of a dragon’s crest, and supporting a bust, 
most wonderful to behold. It was that of a bald-headed old 
man, with a mysteriously-wicked expression, and imposing 
silence by one thin finger over his lips. His marble mouth 
seemed tremulous with secrets. 

“ Sit down, Wellingborough,” said Harry ; “ don’t be 
frightened, we are at home. — Uing the bell, will you ? 
But stop — and advancing to the mysterious bust, he 
whispered something in its ear. 

“He’s a knowing mute, Wellingborough,” said he; “who 
stays in this one place all the time, while he is yet running 
of errands. But mind you don’t breathe any secrets in his 
ear.” 

In obedience to a summons so singularly conveyed, to my 
amazement a servant almost instantly appeared, standing 
transfixed in the attitude of a bow. 

“ Cigars,” said Harry. When they came, he drew up a 
small table into the middle of the room, and lighting his 
cigar, bade me follow his example, and make myself 
happy. 

Almost transported with such princely quarters, so un- 
dreamed of before, while leading my dog’s life in the filthy 
forecastle of the Highlander, I twirled round a chair, and 
seated myself opposite my friend. 

But all the time, I felt ill at heart ; and was filled with 
an under current of dismal forebodings. But I strove to 
dispel them ; and turning to my companion, exclaimed, 
“ And pray, do you live here, Harry, in this Palace of 
Aladdin ?” 

“ Upon my soul,” he cried, “ you have hit it : — ^you must 
have been here before ! Aladdin’s Palace ! Why, Welling- 
borough, it goes by that very name.” 

Then he laughed strangely : and for the first time, I 
thought he had been quaffing too freely : yet, though ho 
looked wildly from his eyes, his general carriage was firm. 


292 


REDBURN: 


“Who are you looking at so hard, Wellingborough?” 
said he. 

“ I am afraid, Harry,” said I, “ that v/hen you left me 
just now, you must have been drinking something stronger 
than wine.” 

“ Hear him now,” said Harry, turning round, as if ad- 
dressing the bald-headed bust on the bracket, — “a parson 
’pon honor ! — But remark you, Wellingborough, my boy, I 
must leave you again, and for a considerably longer time 
than before : — may not be back again to-night.” 

“ What ?” said I. 

“ Be still,” he cried, “hear me, I know the old duke here, 
and—” 

“ Who ? not the Duke of Wellington,” said I, wondering 
whether Harry was really going to include him too, in his 
long list of confidential friends and acquaintances. 

“Pooh !” cried Harry, “I mean the white-whiskered old 
man you saw below ; they call him the Duke : — he keeps 
the house. I say, I know him well, and he knows me ; 
and he knows what brings me here, also. Well ; we have 
arranged every thing about you ; you are to stay in this 
room, and sleep here to-night, and — and — ” continued he, 
speaking low — “ you must guard this letter — ” slipping a 
sealed one into my hand — “ and, if I am not back by morn- 
ing, you must post right on to Bury, and leave the letter 
there ; — here, take this paper — it’s all set down here in 
black and white — where you are to go, and what you are 
to do. And after that’s done — mind, this is all in case I 
don’t return — then you may do what you please : stay here 
in London awhile, or go back to Liverpool. And here’s 
enough to pay all your expenses.” 

All this was a thunder stroke. I thought Harry was 
;razy. I held the purse in my motionless hand, and stared 
it him, till the tears almost started from my eyes. 

“ What’s the matter, Redburn ?” he cried, with a wild 
sort of laugh — “ you are not afraid of me, are you ? No, 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


293 


no ! I believe in you, my boy, or you would not hold that 
purse in your hand ; no, nor that letter.” 

“ What in heaven’s name do you mean ?” at last I ex- 
claimed, “ you don’t really intend to desert me in this strange 
place, do you, Harry ?” and I snatched him by the hand. 

“ Pooh, pooh,” he cried, let me go. I tell you, it’s all 
right : do as I say : that’s all. Promise me now, will you ? 
Swear it ! — no, no,” he added, vehemently, as I conjured 
him to tell me more — “ no, I won’t : I have nothing more 
to tell you — not a word. Will you swear ?” 

“ But one sentence more for your own sake, Harry; hear 
me !” 

“Not a syllable ! Will you swear? — ^you will not? then 
here, give me that purse : — there — there — take that — and 
that — and that ; — that will pay your fare back to Liverpool ; 
good-by to you : you are not my friend,” and he wheeled 
round his back. 

I know not what flashed through my mind, but something 
suddenly impelled me ; and grasping his hand, I swore to 
him what he demanded. 

Immediately he ran to the bust, whispered a word, and 
the white -whiskered old man appeared : whom he clapped 
on the shoulder, and then introduced me as his friend — young 
Lord Stormont ; and bade the almond tree look well to the 
comforts of his lordship, while he — Harry — was gone. 

The almond tree blandly bowed, and grimaced, with a 
peculiar expression, that I hated on the spot. After a few 
words more, he withdrew. Harry then shook my hand 
heartily, and without giving me a chance to say one word, 
seized his cap, and darted out of the room, saying, “ Leave 
not this room to-night ; and remember the letter, and Bury !” 

I fell into a chair, and gazed round at the strange- looking 
walls and mysterious pictures, and up to the chandelier at 
the ceiling ; then rose, and opened the door, and looked down 
the lighted passage ; but only heard the hum from the room- 
ful below, scattered voices, and a hushed ivory rattling from 


294 


R E D B U R N ; 


the closed apartments adjoining. I stepped back into the 
room, and a terrible revulsion came over me ; I would have 
given the world had I been safe back in Liverpool, fast 
asleep in my old bunk in Prince’s Dock. 

I shuddered at every footfall, and almost thought it must 
be some assassin pursuing me. The whole place seemed 
infected ; and a strange thought came over me, that in the 
very damasks around, some eastern plague had been import- 
ed. And was that pale yellow wine, that I drank below, 
drugged ? thought I. This must be some house whose 
foundations take hold on the pit. But these fearful reveries 
only enchanted me fast to my chair ; so that, though I then 
wished to rush forth from the house, my limbs seemed 
manacled. 

While thus chained to my seat, something seemed sud- 
denly flung open ; a confused sound of imprecations, mixed 
with the ivory rattling, louder than before, burst upon my 
ear, and through the partly open door of the room where 
I was, I caught sight of a tall, frantic man, with clenched 
hands, wildly darting through the passage, toward the 
stairs. 

And all the while, Harry ran through my soul — in and 
out, at every door, that burst open to his vehement rush. 

At that moment my whole acquaintance with him passed 
like lightning through my mind, till I asked myself why he 
had come here, to London, to do this thing ? — why would 
not Liverpool have answered ? and what did he want of 
me ? But, every way, his conduct was unaccountable. 
From the hour he had accosted me on board the ship, his 
manner seemed gradually changed ; and from the moment 
we had sprung into the cab, he had seemed almost another 
person from what he had seemed before. 

But what could I do ? He was gone, that was certain ; 
— would he ever come back ? But he might still be some- 
where in the house ; and with a shudder, I thought of that 
ivory rattling, and was almost ready to dart forth, search 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


295 


every room, and save him. But that would he madness, 
and I had sworn not to do so. There seemed nothing left, 
but to await his return. Yet, if he did not return, what 
then ? I took out the purse, and counted over the money, 
and looked at the letter and paper of memoranda. 

Though I vividly remember it all, I will not give the 
superscription of the letter, nor the contents of the paper. 
But after I had looked at them attentively, and considered 
that Harry could have no conceivable object in deceiving 
me, I thought to myself. Yes, he’s in earnest ; and here I 
am — yes, even in London ! And here in this room will I 
stay, come what will. I will implicitly follow his directions, 
and so see out the last of this thing. 

But spite of these thoughts, and spite of the metropolitan 
magnificence around me, I was mysteriously alive to a 
dreadful feeling, which I had never before felt, except when 
penetrating into the lowest and most squalid haunts of sailor 
iniquity in Liverpool. All the mirrors and marbles around 
me seemed crawling over with lizards ; and I thought to 
myself, that though gilded and golden, the serpent of vice is 
a serpent still. 

It was now grown very late ; and faint with excitement, 
I threw myself upon a lounge ; but for some time tossed 
about restless, in a sort of night-mare. Every few moments, 
spite of my oath, 1 was upon the point of starting up, 
and rushing into the street, to inquire where I was ; but re- 
membering Harry’s injunctions, and my own ignorance of 
the town, and that it was now so late, I again tried to be 
composed. 

/ At last, I fell asleep, dreaming about Harry fighting a 
duel of dice-boxes with the military-looking man below ; 
and the next thing I knew, was the glare of a light before 
my eyes, and Harry himself, very pale, stood before me. 

“ The letter and paper,” he cried. 

I fumbled in my pockets, and handed them to him. 

“ There ! there ! there ! thus I tear you. ” he cried. 


296 


R E D B U R N : 


wrenching the letter to pieces with both hands like a mad- 
man, and stamping upon the fragments. “ I am off fo? 
America ; the game is up.” 

“ For God’s sake explain,” said I, now utterly bewildered, 
and frightened. “ Tell me, Harry, what is it ? You have 
not been gambling ?” 

“ Ha, ha,” he deliriously laughed. “Gambling? red 
and white, you mean ? — cards ? — dice ? — the bones ? — Ha, 
ha !” — Gambling ? gambling ?” he ground out between his 
teeth — “what two devilish, stiletto-sounding syllables they 
are !” 

“Wellingborough,” he added, marching up to me slowly, 
but with his eyes blazing into mine — “ Wellingborough” — 
and fumbling in his breast-pocket, he drew forth a dirk — 
“ Here, Wellingborough, take it — take it, I say — are you 
stupid ? — there, there” — and he pushed it into my hands. 
“ Keep it away from me — ^keep it out of my sight — I don’t 
want it near me, while I feel as I do. They serve suicides 
scurvily here, Wellingborough ; they don’t bury them de- 
cently. See that bell-rope ! By Heaven, it’s an invitation 
to hang myself” — and seizing it by the gilded handle at the 
end, he twitched it down from the wall. 

“ In God’s name, what ails you ?” I cried. 

“ Nothing, oh nothing,” said Harry, now assuming a 
treacherous, tropical calmness — “ nothing, Kedburn ; noth- 
ing in the world. I’m the serenest of men.” 

“ But give me that dirk,” he suddenly cried — “ let me 
have it, I say. Oh ! I don’t mean to murder myself — I’m 
past that now — give it me” — and snatching it from my 
hand, he flung down an empty purse, and with a terrific 
stab, nailed it fast with the dirk to the table. 

“ There now,” he cried, “‘there’s something for the old 
duke to see to-morrow morning ; that’s about all that’s left 
of me — that’s my skeleton, Wellingborough. But come, 
don’t be down-hearted ; there’s a little more gold yet in 
Golconda ; I have a guinea or two left. Don’t stare so, 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


297 


my boy ; we shall be in. Liverpool to-morrow night ; wc 
start in the morning” — and turning his back, he began to 
whistle very fiercely. 

“ And this, then,” said I, “ is your showing me London, 
is it, Harry ? I did not think this ; but tell me your secret, 
whatever it is, and I will not regret not seeing the town.” 

He turned round upon me like lightning, and cried, “Led- 
burn ! you must swear another oath, and instantly.” 

“ And why ?” said I, in alarm, “ what more would you 
have me swear ?” 

“ Never to question me again about this infernal trip to 
London !” he shouted, with the foam at his lips — “ never to 
breathe it ! swear !” 

“ I certainly shall not trouble you, Harry, with questions, 
if you do not desire it,” said I, “ but there’s no need of 
swearing.” 

“ Swear it, I say, as you love me, Redburn,” he added, 
imploringly. 

“ Well, then, I solemnly do. Now lie down, and let us 
forget ourselves as soon as we can ; for me, you have made 
me the most miserable dog alive.” 

“ And what am I ?” cried Harry ; “ but pardon me, 
Redburn, I did not mean to offend ; if you knew all — but 
no, no ! — never mind, never mind !” And he ran to the 
bust, and whispered in its ear. A waiter came. 

“ Brandy,” whispered Harry, with clenched teeth. 

“ Are you not going to sleep, then ?” said I, more and 
more alarmed at his wildness, and fearful of the effects of 
his drinking still more, in such a mood. 

“ No sleep for me ! sleep if you can — I mean to sit up 
with a decanter ! — let me see” — looking at the ormolu clock 
on the mantel — “ it’s only two hours to morning.” 

The waiter, looking very sleepy, and with a green shade 
on his brow, appeared with the decanter and glasses on a 
salver, and was told to leave it and depart. 

Seeing that Harry was not to be moved, I once more 

N* 


298 


RE DBU RN; 


threw myself on the lounge. I did not sleep ; but, like a 
somnambulist, only dozed now and then ; starting from my 
dreams ; while Harry sat, with his hat on, at the table ; the 
brandy before him ; from which he occasionally poured into 
his glass. Instead of exciting him, however, to my amaze- 
ment, the spirits seemed to soothe him down; and, ere long, 
he was comparatively calm. 

At last, just as I had fallen into a deep sleep, I was 
wakened by his shaking me, and saying our cab was at the 
door. 

“ Look ! it is broad day,” said he, brushing aside the heavy 
hangings of the window. 

We left the -room; and passing through the now silent 
and deserted hall of pillars, which, at this hour, reeked as 
with blended roses and cigar-stumps decayed ; a dumb waiter, 
rubbing his eyes, flung open the street door ; we sprung into 
the cab ; and soon found ourselves whirled along northward 
by railroad, toward Prince’s Dock and the Highlander. 


CHAPTER XLVIL 

HOMEWARD-BOUND. ' 

Once more in Liverpool ; and wending my way through 
the same old streets to the sign of the Golden Anchor ; 1 
could scarcely credit the events of the last thirty-six hours. 

So unforeseen had been our departure in the first place ; 
so rapid o'ur journey ; so unaccountable the conduct of 
Harry ; and so sudden our return ; that all united to over- 
whelm me. That I had been at all in London seemed 
impossible ; and that I had been there, and come away 
little the wiser, was almost distracting to one who, like me, 
had so longed to behold that metropolis of marvels. 

I looked hard at Harry as he walked in silence at my 
side ; I stared at the houses we passed ; I thought of the 
cab, the gas-lighted hall in the Palace of Aladdin, the pic- 
tures, the letter, the oath, the dirk ; the mysterious place 
where all these mysteries had occurred ; and then, was 
almost ready to conclude, that the pale yellow wine had 
been drugged. 

As for Harry, stuffing his false whiskers and mustache 
into his pocket, ' he now led the way to the boarding-house ; 
and saluting the landlady, was shown to his room ; where 
we immediately shifted our clothes, appearing once more in 
our sailor habiliments. 

“ Well, what do you propose to do now, Harry?” said I, 
with a heavy heart. 

“ Why, visit your Yankee land in the Highlander, of 
course — what else ?” he replied. 

“ And is it to be a visit, or a long stay ?” asked I. 

“That’s as it may turn out,” said Harry; “but I have 


300 


R E D B U R N : 


now more than ever resolved upon the sea. There is nothing 
like the sea for a fellow like me, Redburn ; a desperate man 
can not get any further than the wharf, you know ; and the 
next step must be a long jump. But come, let’s see what 
they have to eat here, and then for a cigar and a stroll. I 
feel better already. Never say die, is my motto.” 

We went to supper ; after that, sallied out ; and walking 
along the quay of Prince’s Dock, heard that the ship High- 
lander had that morning been advertised to sail in two days’ 
time. 

“ Good !” exclaimed Harry ; and I was glad enough my- 
self. 

Although I had now been absent from the ship full forty- 
eight hours, and intended to return to her, yet I did not 
anticipate being called to any severe account for it from the 
officers ; for several of our men had absented themselves 
longer than I had, and upon their return, little or nothing 
was said to them. Indeed, in some cases, the mate seemed 
to know nothing about it. During the whole time we lay 
in Liverpool, the discipline of the ship was altogether re- 
laxed ; and I could hardly believe they were the same 
officers who were so dictatorial at sea. The reason of this 
was, that we had nothing important to do ; and although 
the captain might now legally refuse to receive me on board, 
yet I was not afraid of that, as I was as stout a lad for my 
years, and worked as cheap, as any one he could engage to 
take my place on the homeward passage. ’ 

Next morning we made our appearance on board befom 
the rest of the crew ; and the mate perceiving me, said with 
an oath, “ Well, sir, you have thought best to return then, 
have you ? Captain Riga and I were flattering ourselves 
that you had made a run of it for good.” 

Then, thought I, the captain, who seems to affect to know 
nothing of the proceedings of the sailors, has been aware of 
my absence. 

“ But turn to, sir, turn to,” added the mate ; “ here ! 


r 


HIS FIRST VOYAGF. 301 


aloft there, and free that pennant ; it’s foul of the back-stay 
—jump !” 

The captain coming on hoard soon after, looked very be- 
nevolently at Harry ; but, as usual, pretended not to take 
the slightest notice of myself. 

We were all now very busy in getting things ready for 
sea. The cargo had been already stowed in the hold by the 
stevedores and lumpers from shore ; but it became the crew’s 
business to clear away the hetwee7i-decks, extending from the 
cabin bulkhead to the forecastle, for the reception of about 
five hundred emigrants, some of whose boxes were already 
littering the decks. 

To provide for their wants, a far larger supply of water 
was needed than upon the outward-bound passage. Accord- 
ingly, besides the usual number of casks on deck, rows of 
immense tierces were lashed amid-ships, all along the hetween- 
decks, forming a sort of aisle on each side, furnishing access 
to four rows of bunks, — three tiers, one above another, — 
against the ship’s sides ; two tiers being placed over the 
tierces of water in the middle. These bunks were rapidly 
knocked together with coarse planks. They looked more 
like dog-kennels than any thing else ; especially as the place 
was so gloomy and dark ; no light coming down except 
through the fore and after hatchways, both of which were 
covered with little houses called “ booby -hatches.'' Upon the 
main-hatches, which were well calked and covered over 
with heavy tarpaulins, the ^passengers' -galley" was solidly 
lashed down. 

This galley was a large open stove, or iron range — made 
expressly for emigrant ships, wholly unprotected from the 
weather, and where alone the emigrants are permitted to 
cook their food while at sea. 

After two days’ work, every thing was in readiness ; most 
of the emigrants on board ; and in the evening we worked the 
ship close into the outlet of Prince’s Dock, with the bow against 
the water-gate, to go out with the tide in the morning. 


J02 


REDBURN 


In the morning, the bustle and confusion about us was 
indescribable. Added to the ordinary clamor of the docks, 
was the hurrying to and fro of our five hundred emigrants, 
the last of whom, with their baggage, were now coming on 
board ; the appearance of the cabin passengers, following 
porters with their trunks ; the loud orders of the dock- 
masters, ordering the various ships behind us to preserve 
their order of going out ; the leave-takings, and good-by’s, 
and God-bless-you’s, between the emigrants and their friends; 
and the cheers of the surrounding ships. 

At this time we lay in such a way, that no one could 
board us except by the bowsprit, which overhung the quay. 
Staggering along that bowsprit, now came a one-eyed crimp, 
leading a drunken tar by the collar, who had been shipped 
to sail with us the day previous. It has been stated before, 
that two or three of our men had left us for good, while in 
port. When the crimp had got this man and another safely 
lodged in a bunk below, he returned on shore ; and going to 
a miserable cab, pulled out still another apparently drunken 
fellow, who proved completely helpless. However, the ship 
now swinging her broadside more toward the quay, this stu- 
pefied sailor, with a Scotch cap pulled down over his closed 
eyes, only revealing a sallow Portuguese complexion, was 
lowered on board by a rope under his arms, and passed for- 
ward by the crew, who put him likewise into a bunk in the 
forecastle, the crimp himself carefully tucking him in, and 
bidding the bystanders not to disturb him till the ship was 
away from the land. 

This done, the confusion increased, as we now glided out 
of the dock. Hats and handkerchiefs were waved ; hurrahs 
were exchanged ; and tears were shed ; and the last thing I 
saw, as we shot into the stream, was a policeman collaring 
a boy, and walking him off to the guard-house. 

A steam-tug, the Goliath, now took us by the arm, and 
gallanted us down the river past the fort. 

The scene was most striking. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


303 


Owing to a strong breeze, which had been blowing up 
the river for four days past, holding wind-bound in the 
various docks a multitude of ships for all parts of the world ; 
there was now under weigh, a vast fleet of merchantmen, 
all steering broad out to sea. The white sails glistened in 
the clear morning air like a great Eastern encampment of 
sultans ; and from many a forecastle, came the deep mellow 
old song Ho-o-he-yo, cheerily men I as the crews catted their 
anchors. 

The wind was fair ; the weather mild ; the sea most 
smooth ; and the poor emigrants were in high spirits at so 
auspicious a beginning of their voyage. They were reclining 
all over the decks, talking of soon seeing America, and re- 
lating how the agent had told them, that twenty days would 
be an uncommonly long voyage. 

Here it must be mentioned, that owing to the great num- 
ber of ships sailing to the Yankee ports from Liverpool, the 
competition among them in obtaining emigrant passengers, 
who as a cargo are much more remunerative than crates 
and bales, is exceedingly great ; so much so, that some of 
the agents they employ, do not scruple to deceive the poor 
applicants for passage, with all manner of fables concerning 
the short space of time, in which their ships make the run 
across the ocean. 

This often induces the emigrants to provide a much 
smaller stock of provisions than they otherwise w’’ould ; the 
effect of which sometimes proves to be in the last degree 
lamentable ; as will be seen further on. And though benev- 
olent societies have been long organized in Liverpool, for the 
purpose of keeping offices, where the emigrants can obtain 
reliable information and advice, concerning their best mode 
of embarkation, and other matters interesting to them ; and 
though the English authorities have imposed a law, providing 
that every captain of an emigrant ship bound for any port 
of America shall see to it, that each passenger is provided 
with rations of food for sixty days ; yet, all this has not 


304 


REDBURN: 


deterred mercenary ship-masters and unprincipled agents 
from practicing the grossest deception ; nor exempted the 
emigrants themselves from the very sufferings intended to he 
averted. 

No sooner had we fairly gained the expanse of the Irish 
Sea, and, one by one, lost sight of our thousand consorts, than 
the weather changed into the most miserably cold, wet, and 
cheerless days and nights imaginable. The wind was tem- 
pestuous, and dead in our teeth ; and the hearts of the 
emigrants fell. Nearly all of them had now hied below, to 
escape the uncomfortable and perilous decks : and from the 
two “ booby-hatches^^ came the steady hum of a subterranean 
wailing and weeping. That irresistible wrestler, sea-sick- 
ness, had overthrown the stoutest of their number, and the 
women and children were embracing and sobbing in all the 
agonies of the poor emigrant’s first storm at sea. 

Bad enough is it at such times with ladies and gentlemen 
in the cabin, who have nice little state-rooms ; and plenty 
of privacy ; and stewards to run for them at a word, and 
put pillows under their heads, and tenderly inquire how they 
are getting along, and mix them a posset : and even then, 
in the abandonment of this soul and body subduing malady, 
such ladies and gentlemen will often give up life itself as 
unendurable, and put up the most pressing petitions for a 
speedy annihilation ; all of which, however, only arises from 
their intense anxiety to preserve their valuable lives. 

How, then, with the friendless emigrants, stowed away 
like bales of cotton, and packed like slaves in a slave-ship ; 
confined in a place that, during storm time, must be closed 
against both light and air ; who can do no cooking, nor 
warm so much as a cup of water ; for the drenching seas 
would instantly flood their fire in their exposed galley on 
deck ? How, then, with these men, and women, and children, 
to whom a first voyage, under the most advantageous circum- 
stances, must come just as hard as to the Honorable He Lancey 
Fitz Clarence, lady, daughter, and seventeen servants. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE, 


305 


Nor is this all : for in some of these ships, as in the case 
ol the Highlander, the emigrant passengers are cut off from 
the most indispensable conveniences of a civilized dwelling. 
This forces them in storm time to such extremities, that no 
wonder fevers and plagues are the result. We had not 
been at sea one week, when to hold your head down the 
fore hatchway was like holding it down a suddenly opened 
cess-pool. 

But still more than this. Such is the aristocracy main- 
tained on board some of these ships, that the most arbitrary 
measures are enforced, to prevent the emigrants from intruding 
upon the most holy precincts of the quarter-deck, the only 
completely open space on ship-board. Consequently — even 
in fine weather — when they come up from below, they are 
crowded in the waist of the ship, and jammed among the 
boats, casks, and spars ; abused by the seamen, and sometimes 
cuffed by the officers, for unavoidably standing in the way 
of working the vessel. 

The cabin-passengers of the Highlander numbered some 
fifteen in all ; and to protect this detachment of gentility 
from the barbarian incursions of the “ wild Irish'" emigrants, 
ropes were passed athwart-ships, by the main-mast, from 
side to side : which defined the boundary line between those 
who had paid three pounds passage-money, from those who 
had paid twenty guineas. And the cabin-passengers them- 
selves w’-ere the most urgent in having this regulation main- 
tained. 

Lucky would it be for the pretensions of some parvenus, 
whose souls are deposited at their banker’s, and whose 
bodies but serve to carry about purses, knit of poor men’s 
heart-strings, if thus easily they could precisely define, ashore, 
the difference between them and the rest of humanity. 

But, I, Redburn, am a poor fellow, who have hardly ever 
known what it is to have five silver dollars in my pocket at 
one time ; so, no doubt, this circumstance has something to 
do with my slight and harmless indignation at these things. 


CHAPTER, XLVIII. 


A LIVING CORPSE. 

It was destined that our departure from the English 
strand, should be marked by a tragical event, akin to the 
sudden end of the suicide, which had so strongly impressed 
me on quitting the American shore. 

Of the three newly shipped men, who in a state of intox- 
ication had been brought on board at the dock gates, two 
were able to be engaged at their duties, in four or five hours 
after quitting the pier. But the third man yet lay in his 
bunk, in the self-same posture in which his limbs had been 
adjusted by the crimp, who had deposited him there. 

His name was down on the ship’s papers as Miguel Saveda, 
and for Miguel Saveda the chief mate at last came forward, 
shouting down the forecastle-scuttle, and commanding his 
instant presence on deck. But the sailors answered for their 
new comrade ; giving the mate to understand that Miguel 
was still fast locked in his trance, and could not obey him ; 
when, muttering his usual imprecation, the mate retired to 
the quarter-deck. 

This was in the first dog-watch, from four to six in the 
evening. At about three bells, in the next watch. Max the 
Dutchman, who, like most old seamen, was something of a 
physician in cases of drunkenness, recommended that Miguel’s 
clothing should be removed, in order that he should lie more 
comfortably. But Jackson, who would seldom let any thing 
be done in the forecastle that was not proposed by himself, 
capriciously forbade this proceeding. 

So the sailor still lay out of sight in his bunk, which was 
in the extreme angle of the forecastle, behind the boivsjyrit- 


ms FIRST VOYAGE. 


307 


hitts — two stout timbers footed in the ship’s keel. An hour 
or two afterward, some of the men observed a strange odor 
in the forecastle,, which was attributed to the presence of 
some dead rat among the hollow spaces in the side planks ; 
for some days before, the forecastle had been smoked out, to 
extirpate the vermin overrunning her. At midnight, the 
larboard watch, to which I belonged, turned out ; and in- 
stantly as every man waked, he exclaimed at the now intol- 
erable smell, supposed to be heightened by the shaking up 
of the bilge-water, from the ship’s rolling. 

“ Blast that rat !” cried the Greenlander. 

“ He’s blasted already,” said Jackson, who in his drawers 
had crossed over to the bunk of Miguel. “ It’s a water-rat, 
shipmates, that’s dead ; and here he is” — and with that, he 
dragged forth the sailor’s arm, exclaiming, “ Dead as a tim- 
ber-head !” 

Upon this the men rushed toward the bunk. Max with 
the light, which he held to the man’s face. 

“ No, he’s not dead,” he cried, as the yellow flame 
wavered for a moment at the seaman’s motionless mouth. 
But hardly had the words escaped, when, to the silent horror 
of all, two threads of greenish fire, like a forked tongue, 
darted out between the lips ; and in a moment, the cadav- 
erous face was crawled over by a swarm of worm-like flames. 

The lamp dropped from the hand of Max, and went out ; 
while covered all over with spires and sparkles of flame, that 
faintly crackled in the silence, the uncovered parts of the 
body burned before us, precisely like a phosphorescent shark 
in a midnight sea. 

The eyes were open and fixed ; the mouth was curled like 
a scroll, and every lean feature firm as in life ; while the 
whole face, now wound in curls of soft blue flame, wore an 
aspect of grim defiance, and eternal death. Prometheus, 
blasted by fire on the rock. 

One arm, its red shirt-sleeve rolled up, exposed the man’s 
name, tattooed in vermilion, near the hollow of the middle 


308 


REDBURN: 


joint ; and as if there was something peculiar in the painted 
flesh, every vibrating letter burned so white, that you might 
read the flaming name in the flickering ground of blue. 

“Where’s that d — d Miguel?” was now shouted down 
among us from the scuttle by the mate, who had just come 
on deck, and was determined to have every man up that 
belonged to his watch. 

“ He’s gone to the harbor where they never weigh anchor,” 
coughed Jackson. “ Come you down, sir, and look.” 

Thinking that Jackson intended to heard him, the mate 
sprang down in a rage ; but recoiled at the burning body as 
if he had been shot by a bullet. “ My God !” he cried, and 
stood holding fast to the ladder. 

“ Take hold of it,” said Jackson, at last, to the Green- 
lander; “ it must go overboard. Don’t stand shaking there, 
like a dog ; take hold of it, I say ! But stop” — and smother- 
ing it all in the blankets, he pulled it partly out of the hunk. 

A few minutes more, and it fell with a bubble among the 
phosphorescent sparkles of the damp night sea, leaving a 
corruscating wake as it sank. 

This event thrilled*me through and through with unspeak- 
able horror ; nor did the conversation of the watch during 
the next four hours on deck, at all serve to soothe me. 

But what most astonished me, and seemed most incredible, 
was the infernal opinion of Jackson, that the man had been 
actually dead when brought on board the ship ; and that 
knowingly, and merely for the sake of the month’s advance, 
paid into his hand upon the strength of the bill he presented, 
the body-snatching crimp had knowingly shipped a corpse 
on board of the Highlander, under the pretense of its being 
a live body in a drunken trance. And I heard Jackson say, 
that he had known of such things having been done before. 
But that a really dead body ever burned in that manner, I 
can not even yet believe. *But the sailors seemed familiar 
with such things ; or at least with the stories of such things 
having happened to others. 


f 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 309 


Foi me, who at that age had never so much as happened 
to hear of a case like this, of animal combustion, in the 
horrid mood that came over me, I almost thought the burn- 
ing body was a premonition of the hell of the Calvinists, 
and that Miguel’s earthly end was a foretaste of his eternal 
condemnation. 

Immediately after the burial, an iron pot of red coals was 
placed in the bunk, and in it two handfuls of coffee were 
roasted. This done, the bunk was nailed up, and was never 
opened again during the voyage ; and strict orders were 
given to the crew not to divulge what had taken place to 
the emigrants : but to this, they needed no commands. 

After the event, no one sailor but Jackson would stay 
alone in the forecastle, by night or by noon ; and no more 
would they laugh or sing, or in any way make merry there, 
but kept all their pleasantries for the watches on deck. All 
but Jackson : who, while the rest would be sitting silently 
smoking on their chests, or in their bunks, would look to- 
ward the fatal spot, and cough, and laugh, and invoke the 
dead man with incredible scoffs and jeers. He froze my 
blood, and made my soul stand still. 


CHAPTER XLIX. 


CARLO. 

There was oh board our ship, among the emigrant pas- 
sengers, a rich-cheeked, chestnut-haired Italian hoy, arrayed 
in a faded, olive-hued velvet jacket, and tattered trowsers 
rolled up to his knee. He was not above fifteen years of 
age ; but in the twilight pensiveness of his full morning 
eyes, there seemed to sleep experiences so sad and various, 
that his days must have seemed to him years. It was not 
an eye like Harry’s, tho’ Harry’s was large and womanly. It 
shone with a soft and spiritual radiance, like a moist star in 
a tropic sky ; and spoke of humility, deep-seated thoughtful- 
ness, yet a careless endurance of all the ills of life. 

The head was if any thing small ; and heaped with 
thick clusters of tendril curls, half overhanging the brows 
and delicate ears, it somehow reminded you of a classic 
vase, piled up with Falernian foliage. 

From the knee downward, the naked leg w^as beautiful 
to behold as any lady’s arm ; so soft and rounded, with in- 
fantile ease and grace. His whole figure was free, fine, and 
indolent ; he was such a boy as might have ripened into 
life in a Neapolitan vineyard ; such a boy as gipsies steal in 
infancy ; such a boy as Murillo often painted, when he went 
among the poor and outcast, for subjects wherewith to cap- 
tivate the eyes of rank and wealth ; such a boy, as only 
Andalusian beggars are, full of poetry, gushing from every 
rent. 

Carlo was his name ; a poor and friendless son of earth, 
who had no sire ; and on life’s ocean was swept along, as 
spoon-drift in a gale. 


MIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


311 


Some months previous, he had landed in Prince’s Dock, 
with his hand-organ, from a Messina vessel ; and had walk- 
ed the streets of Liverpool, playing the sunny airs of south- 
ern climes, among the northern fog and drizzle. And now, 
having laid by enough to pay his passage over the Atlantic, 
he had again embarked, to seek his fortunes in America. 

From the first, Harry took to the boy. 

“ Carlo,” said Harr}^ “ how did you succeed in England?” 

He was reclining upon an old sail spread on the long- 
boat ; and throwing back his soiled but tasseled cap, and 
caressing one leg like a child, he looked up, and said in his 
broken English — that seemed like mixing the potent wine 
of Oporto with some delicious syrup : — said he, “ Ah ! I 
succeed very well ! — ^for I have tunes for the young and 
the old, the gay and the sad. I have marches for military 
young men, and love-airs for the ladies, and solemn sounds 
for the aged. I never draw a crowd, but I know from 
their faces what airs will best please them ; I never stop 
before a house, but I judge from its portico for what tune 
they will soonest toss me some silver. And I ever play sad 
airs to the merry, and merry airs to the sad ; and most al- 
ways the rich best fancy the sad, and the poor the merry.” 

“ But do you not sometimes meet with cross and crabbed 
old men,” said Harry, “ who would much rather have your 
room than your music ?” 

“Yes, sometimes, ” said Carlo, playing with his foot, 
“ sometimes I do.” 

“ And then, knowing the value of quiet to unquiet men, 
I suppose you never leave them under a shilling ?” 

“No,” continued the boy, “ I love my organ as I do my- 
self, for it is my only friend, poor organ ! it sings to me 
when I am sad, and cheers me ; and I never play before a 
house, on purpose to be paid for leaving off, not I ; would 
♦ I, p)oor organ ?” — looking down the hatchway where it was. 
“ No, that I never have done, and never will do, though I 
starve ; for when people drive me away, I do not think my 


312 


R E D B U R N : 


organ is to blame, but they themselves are to blame ; for 
such people’s musical pipes are cracked, and grown rusted, 
that no more music can be breathed into their souls.” 

“No, Carlo ; no music like yours, perhaps,” said Harry, 
with a laugh. 

“ Ah ! there’s the mistake. Though my organ is as full 
of melody, as a hive is of bees ; yet no organ can make 
music in unmusical breasts ; no more than my native winds 
can, when they breathe upon a harp without chords.” 

Next day was a serene and delightful one ; and in the 
evening when the vessel was just rippling along impelled by 
a gentle yet steady breeze, and the poor emigrants, relieved 
from their late suflerings, were gathered on deck ; Carlo 
suddenly started up from his lazy reclinings ; went below, 
and, assisted by the emigrants, returned with his organ. 

Now, music is a holy thing, and its instruments, however 
humble, are to be loved and revered. Whatever has made, 
or does make, or may make music, should be held sacred as 
the golden bridle-bit of the Shah of Persia’s horse,^ and the 
golden hammer, with which his hoofs are shod. Musical 
instruments should be like the silver tongs, with which the 
high-priests tended the Jewish altars — never to be touched 
by a hand profane. Who would bruise the poorest reed of 
Pan, though plucked from a beggar’s hedge, would insult 
the melodious god himself 

And there is no humble thing with music in it, not a fife, 
not a negro-fiddle, that is not to be reverenced as much as 
the grandest architectural organ that ever rolled its flood- 
tide of harmony down a cathedral nave. For even a Jew’s- 
harp may be so played, as to awaken all the fairies that are 
in us, and make them dance in our souls, as on a moon-lit 
sward of violets. 

But what subtle power is this, residing in but a bit of 
steel, which might have made a tenpenny nail, that .so 
enters, without knocking, into our inmost beings, and shows 
us all hidden things ? 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


313 


Not ill a spirit of foolish speculation altogether, in no 
merely transcendental mood, did the glorious Greek of old 
fancy the human soul to be essentially a harmony. And if 
we grant that theory of Paracelsus and Campanella, that 
every man has four souls within him ; then can we account 
for those banded sounds with silver links, those quartettes of 
melody, that sometimes sit and sing within us, as if our souls 
were baronial halls, and our music were made by the hoar- 
est old harpers of Wales. 

But look ! here is poor Carlo’s organ ; and while the silent 
crowd surrounds him, there he stands, looking mildly but in- 
quiringly about him ; his right hand pulling and twitching 
the ivory knobs at one end of his instrument. 

Behold the organ I 

Surely, if much virtue lurk in the old fiddles of Cremona, 
and if their melody be in proportion to their antiquity, what 
divine ravishments may we not anticipate from this venera- 
ble, embrowned old organ, which might almost have played 
the Dead March in Saul, when King Saul himself was 
buried. 

A fine old organ ' carved into fantastic old towers, and 
turrets, and belfries ; its architecture seems somewhat of the 
Gothic, monastic order ; in front, it looks like the West-Front 
of York Minster. 

What sculptured arches, leading into mysterious intrica- 
cies ! — what mullioned windows, that seem as if they must 
look into chapels flooded with devotional sunsets ! — what 
flying buttresses, and gable-ends, and niches with saints ! — 
But stop ! ’tis a Moorish iniquity ; for here, as I live, is a 
Saracenic arch ; which, for aught I know, may lead into 
some interior Alhambra. 

Ay, it does ; for as Carlo now turns his hand, I hear the 
gush of the Fountain of Lions, as he plays some thronged 
Italian air — a mixed and liquid sea of sound, that dashes 
its spray in my face. 

Play on, play on, Italian boy ! what though the notes be 
O 


314 


K E D B U R N : 


broken, here’s that within that mends them. Turn hither 
your pensive, morning eyes ; and while I list to the organs 
twain — one yours, one mine — let me gaze fathoms down 
into thy fathomless eye ; — ’tis good as gazing down into the 
great South Sea, and seeing the dazzling rays of the dolphins 
there. 

Play on, play on ! for to every note come trooping, now, 
triumphant standards, armies marching — all the pomp of 
sound. Methinks I am Xerxes, the nucleus of the martial 
neigh of all the Persian studs. Like gilded damask-flies, 
thick clustering on some lofty bough, my satraps swarm 
around me. 

But now the pageant passes, and I droop ; while Carlo 
taps his ivory knobs, and plays some flute-like saraband — 
soft, dulcet, dropping sounds, like silver oars in bubbling 
brooks. And now a clanging, martial air, as if ten thousand 
brazen trumpets, forged from spurs and sword-hilts, called 
North, and South, and East, to rush to West ! 

Again — what blasted heath is this ? — ^what goblin sounds 
of Macbeth’s witches? — Beethoven’s Spirit Waltz! the 
muster-call of sprites and specters. Now come, hands join- 
ed, Medusa, Hecate, she of Endor, and all the Blocksberg’s, 
demons dire. 

Once more the ivory knobs are tapped ; and long-drawn, 
golden sounds are heard — some ode to Cleopatra ; slowly 
loom, and solemnly expand, vast, rounding orbs of beauty ; 
and before me float innumerable queens, deep dipped in sil- 
ver gauzes. 

Ail this could Carlo do — make, unmake me ; build me 
up ; to pieces take me ; and join me limb to limb. He is 
the architect of domes of sound, and bowers of song. 

And all is done with that old organ ! Reverenced, then, 
be all street organs ; more melody is at the beck of my 
Italian boy, than lurks in squadrons of Parisian orchestras. 

But look ! Carlo has that to feast the eye as well as ear j 
and the same wondrous magic in me, magnifies them into 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


315 


grandeur ; though every figure greatly needs the artist’s re- 
pairing hand, and sadly needs a dusting. 

His York Minster’s West-Front opens ; and like the gates 
of Milton’s heaven, it turns on golden hinges. 

What have we here ? The inner palace of the Great 
Mogul ? Grouped and gilded columns, in confidential clus- 
ters ; fixed fountains ; canopies and lounges ; and lords and 
dames in silk and spangles. 

The organ plays a stately march ; and presto ! wide open 
arches ; and out come, two and two, with nodding plumes, 
in crimson turbans, a troop of martial men ; with jingling 
scimeters, they pace the hall ; salute, pass on, and disap- 
pear. 

Now, ground and lofty tumblers ; jet black Nubian slaves. 
They fling themselves on poles ; stand on their heads ; and 
downward vanish. 

And now a dance and masquerade of figures, reeling from 
the side-doors, among the knights and dames. Some sultan 
leads a sultaness ; some emperor, a queen ; and jeweled 
sword-hilts of carpet knights fling back the glances tossed by 
coquettes of countesses. 

On this, the curtain drops ; and there the poor old organ 
stands, begrimed, and black, and rickety. 

Now, tell me. Carlo, if at street corners, for a single 
penny, I may thus transport myself in dreams Elysian, who 
so rich as I ? Not he who owns a million. 

And Carlo ! iU betide the voice that ever greets thee, my 
Italian boy, with aught but kindness ; cursed the slave who 
ever drives thy wondrous box of sights and sounds forth 
firom a lordling’s door ! 


CHAPTER L. 


HARRY BOLTON AT SEA. 

As yet I have said nothing about how my friend, Harry, 
got along as a sailor. 

Poor Harry ! a feeling of sadness, never to be comforted, 
comes over me, even now when I think of you. For this 
voyage that you went, but carried you part of the way to 
that ocean grave, which has buried you up with your secrets, 
and whither no mourning pilgrimage can be made. 

But why this gloom at the thought of the dead ? And 
why should we not be glad ? Is it, that we ever think of 
them as departed from all joy ? Is it, that we believe that 
indeed they are dead ? They revisit us not; the departed ; 
their voices' no more ring in the air ; summer may come, but 
it is winter with them ; and even in our own limbs we feel not 
the sap that every spring renews the green life of the trees. 

But Harry ! you live over again, as I recall your image 
before me. I see you, plain and palpable as in life ; and can 
make your existence obvious to others. Is he, then, dead, 
of whom this may be said ? 

But Harry ! you are mixed with a thousand strange forms, 
the centaurs of fancy ; half real and human, half wild and 
grotesque. Divine imaginings, like gods, come down to the 
groves of our Thessalies, and there, in the embrace of wild, 
dryad reminiscences, beget the beings that astonish the world. 

But Harry ! though your image now roams in my Thes- 
saly groves, it is the same as of old ; and among the droves 
of mixed beings and centaurs, you show like a zebra, band- 
ing with elks. 

And indeed, in his striped Guernsey frock, dark glossy 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


317 


skin and hair, Harry Bolton, mingling with the Highlander’s 
crew, looked not unlike the soft, silken quadruped-creole, that, 
pursued hy wild Bushmen, hounds through CafTrarian woods. 

How they hunted you, Harry, my zebra ! those ocean 
barbarians, those unimpressihle, uncivilized sailors of ours ! 
How they pursued you from bowsprit to mainmast, and 
started you out of your every retreat ! 

Before the day of our sailing, it was known to the seamen 
that the girlish youth, whom they daily saw near the sign 
of the Clipper in Union-street, would form one of their home- 
ward-bound crew. Accordingly, they cast upon him many 
a critical glance ; but were not long in concluding that 
Harry would prove no very great accession to their strength ; 
that the hoist of so tender an arm would not tell many hun- 
dred-weight on the maintop-sail halyards. Therefore they 
disliked him before they became acquainted with him ; and 
such dislikes, as every one knows, are the most inveterate, 
and liable to increase. But even sailors are not blind to the 
sacredness that hallows a stranger ; and for a time, abstain- 
ing from rudeness, they only maintained toward my friend a 
cold and unsympathizing civility. 

As for Harry, at first the novelty of the scene filled up 
his mind ; and the thought of being bound for a distant 
land, carried with it, as with every one, a buoyant feeling 
of undefinable expectation. And though his money was 
now gone again, all but a sovereign or two, yet that troubled 
him but little, in the first flush of being at sea. 

But I was surprised, that one who had certainly seen 
much of life, should evince such an incredible ignorance of 
what was wholly inadmissible in a person situated as he 
was. But perhaps his familiarity with lofty life, only the 
less qualified him for understanding the other extreme. Will 
you believe me, this Bury blade once came on deck in a 
brocaded dressing-gown, embroidered slippers, and tasseled 
’ smoking-cap, to stand his morning watch. 

As soon as I beheld him thus arrayed, a suspicion, which 


318 


R E D B U R N : 


had previously crossed my mind, again recurred, and I almost 
vowed to myself that, spite his protestations, Harry Bolton 
never could have been at sea before, even as a Guinea-pig 
in an Indiaman ; for the slightest acquaintance with the 
sea-life and sailors, should have prevented him, it would 
seem, from enacting this folly. 

“ Who’s that Chinese mandarin ?” cried the mate, who 
had made voyages to Canton. “ Look you, my fine fellow, 
douse that mainsail now, and furl it in a trice.” 

“ Sir ?” said Harry, starting back. “ Is not this the 
morning watch, and is not mine a morning gown ?” 

But though, in my refined friend’s estimation, nothing 
could be more appropriate ; in the mate’s, it was the most 
monstrous of incongruities ; and the ofiensive gown and cap 
were removed. 

“It is too bad !” exclaimed Harry to me ; “I meant to 
lounge away the watch in that gown until coffee time ; — 
and I suppose your Hottentot of a mate won’t permit a gen- 
tleman to smoke his Turkish pipe of a morning ; but by gad. 
I’ll wear straps to my pantaloons to spite him !” 

Oh ! that was the rock on which you split, poor Harry ! 
Incensed at the want of polite refinement in the mates and 
crew, Harry, in a pet and pique, only determined to provoke 
them the more ; and the storm of indignation he raised very 
soon overwhelmed him. 

The sailors took a special spite to his chest, a large ma- 
hogany one, which he had had made to order at a furniture 
warehouse. It was ornamented with brass screw-heads, 
and other devices ; and was well filled with those articles 
of the wardrobe in which Harry had sported through a 
London season ; for the various vests and pantaloons he had 
sold in Liverpool, when in want of money, had not materially 
lessened his extensive stock. 

It was curious to listen to the various hints and opinings 
thrown out by the sailors at the occasional glimpses they 
had of this collection of silks, velvets, broadcloths, and satins 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


319 


I do not know exactly what they thought Harry had been ; 
but they seemed unanimous in believing that, by abandoning 
his country, Harry had left more room for the gamblers. 
Jackson even asked him to lift up the lower hem of his 
trowsers, to test the color of his calves. 

It is a noteworthy cireumstance, that whenever a slender 
made youth, of easy manners and polite address, happens to 
form one of a ship’s company, the sailors almost invariably 
impute his sea-going to an irresistible necessity of deeamping 
from terra-firm a in order to evade the constables. 

These white-fingered gentry must be light-fingered too, 
they say to themselves, or they would not be after putting 
their hands into our tar. What else can bring them to sea ? 

Cogent and conelusive this ; and thus Harry, from the 
very beginning, was put down for a very equivocal character. 

Sometimes, however, they only made sport of his appear- 
ance ; especially one evening, when his monkey jacket being 
wet through, he was obliged to mount one of his swallow- 
tailed coats. They said he carried two mizen-peaks at his 
stern ; declared he was a broken-down quill-driver, or a foot- 
man to a Portuguese running barber, or some old maid’s 
tobacco-boy. As for the captain, it had become all the same 
to Harry as if there were no gentlemanly and complaisant 
Captain Riga on board. For to his no small astonishment, 

but just as I had predicted, — Captain Riga never noticed 

him now, but left the business of indoctrinating him into the 
little experiences of a greenhorn’s career solely 'in the hands 
of his officers and crew. 

But the worst was to come. For the first few days, when- 
ever there was any running aloft to be done, I noticed that 
Harry was indefatigable in coiling away the slack of the 
rigging about decks ; ignoring the fact that his shipmates 
w^re springing into the shrouds. And when all hands of 
the watch would be engaged clewing up a 'gallant-mil^ 
that is, pulling the proper ropes on deck that wrapped the 
sail up on the yard aloft, Harry would always manage to get 


320 


RE DBURN: 


near the belaying-pin, so that when the time came for two 
of us to spring into the rigging, he would be inordinately 
fidgety in making fast the clew-lines, and would be so ab- 
sorbed in that occupation, and would so elaborate the hitch- 
ings round the pin, that it was quite impossible for him, after 
doing so much, to mount over the bulwarks before his com- 
rades had got there. However, after securing the clew-lines 
beyond a possibility of their getting loose, Harry would al- 
ways make a feint of starting in a prodigious hurry for the 
shrouds ; but suddenly looking up, and seeing Qthers in ad- 
vance, would retreat, apparently quite chagrined that he 
had been cut off from the opportunity of signalizing his 
activity. 

At this I was surprised, and spoke to my friend ; when 
the alarming fact was confessed, that he had made a private 
trial of it, and it never would do : he could not go aloft ; 
his nerves would not hear of it. 

“ Then, Harry,” said I, “ better you had never been horn. 
Do you know what it is that you are coming to ? Did you 
not tell me that you made no doubt you would acquit your- 
self well in the rigging ? Did you not say that you had 
been two voyages to Bombay ? Harry, you were mad to 
ship. But you only imagine it : try again ; and my word 
for it, you will very soon find yourself as much at home 
among the spars as a bird in a tree.” 

But he could not be induced to try it over again ; the fact 
was, his nerves could 'not stand it ; in the course of his 
courtly career, he had drunk too much strong Mocha coffee 
and gunpowder tea, and had smoked altogether too many 
Havannas. 

At last, as I had repeatedly warned him, the mate singled 
him out one morning, and commanded him to mount to the 
main-truck, and unreeve the short signal halyards. 

“ Sir ?” said Harry, aghast. 

“ Away you go !” said the mate, snatching a whip’s end. 

“ Don’t strike me !” screamed Harry, drawing himself up. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


321 


“ Take that, and along with you,” cried the mate, laying 
the rope once across his back, but lightly. . 

“ By heaven!” cried Harry, wincing — not with the blow, 
but the insult : and then making a dash at the mate, who, 
holding out his long arm, kept him lazily at bay, and laughed 
at him, till, had I not feared a broken head, I should infal- 
libly have pitched my boy’s bulk into the officer. 

“ Captain Riga !” cried Harry. 

“ Don’t call upon /w’w,” said the mate ; “ he’s asleep, and 
won’t wake up till we strike Yankee soundings again. Up 
you go !” he added, flourishing the rope’s end. 

Harry looked round among the grinning tars with a glance 
of terrible indignation and agony ; and then settling his eye 
on me, and seeing there no hope, but even an admonition of 
obedience, as his only resource, he made one bound into the 
rigging, and was up at the main-top in a trice. I thought 
a few more springs would take him to the truck, and was a 
little fearful that in his desperation he might then jump 
overboard ; for I had heard of delirious greenhorns doing 
such things at sea, and being lost forever. But no ; he 
stopped short, and looked down from the top. Fatal glance ! 
it unstrung his every fiber ; and I saw him reel, and clutch 
the shrouds, till the mate shouted out for him not to squeeze 
the tar out of the ropes. 

“ Up * 

But Harry said nothing. 

“You Max,” cried the mate to the Dutch sailor, “spring 
after him, and help him ; you understand ?” 

Max went up the rigging hand over hand, and brought 
his red head with a bump against the base of Harry’s back. 
Needs must when the devil drives ; and higher and higher, 
with Max bumping him at every step, went my unfortunate 
friend. At last he gained the royal yard, and the thin signal 
halyards — hardly bigger than common twine — ^were flying in 
the wind. 

“ Unreeve !” cried the mate. 

o* 


322 


EEDBUEN: . 


I saw Harry’s arm stretched out — ^his legs seemed shaking 
in the rigging, even to us, down on deck ; and at last, thank 
heaven ! the deed was done. 

He came down pale as death, with bloodshot eyes, and 
every limb quivering. From that moment he never put foot 
in rattlin ; never mounted above the bulwarks ; and for the 
residue of the voyage, at least, became an altered person. 

At the time, he went to the mate — since he could not 
get speech of the captain — and conjured him to intercede 
with E/iga, that his name might be stricken off from the list 
of the ship’s company, so that he might make the voyage as 
a steerage passenger ; for which privilege, he bound himself 
to pay, as soon as he could dispose of some things of his in 
New York, over and above the - ordinary passage-money. 
But the mate gave him a blunt denial ; and a look of won- 
der at his effrontery. Once a sailor on board a ship, and 
always a sailor for that voyage, at least ; for within so brief 
a period, no officer can bear to associate on terms of any 
thing like equality with a person whom he has ordered about 
at his pleasure. 

Harry then told the mate solemnly, that he might do 
what he pleased, but go aloft again he could not, and would 
not. He would do any thing else but that. 

This affair sealed Harry’s fate on board of the Highlander ; 
the crew now reckoned him fair play for their worst jibes 
and jeers, and he led a miserable life indeed. 

Few landsmen can imagine the depressing and self-humiliat- 
ing effect of finding one’s self, for the first time, at the beck of 
illiterate sea-tyrants, with no opportunity of exhibiting any trait 
about you, but your ignorance of every thing connected with 
the sea-life that you lead, and the duties you are constantly 
called upon to perform. In such a sphere, and under such 
circumstances, Isaac Newton and Lord Bacon would be sea- 
clowns and bumpkins ; and Napoleon Bonaparte be cuffed 
and kicked without remorse. In more than one instance I 
have seen the truth of this ; and Harry, poor Harry, proved 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


323 


lu) e.A'.eption. And from the circumstances which exempted 
me from experiencing the bitterest of these evils, I only the 
more felt for one who, from a strange constitutional nervous- 
ness, before unknown even to himself, was become as a hunted 
hare to the merciless crew. 

But how was it that Harry Bolton, who spite of his effem- 
inacy of appearance, had evinced, in our London trip, such un- 
mistakable flashes of a spirit not easily tained — how was it, 
that he could now yield himself up to the almost passive recep- 
tion of contumely and contempt ? Perhaps his spirit, for the 
time, had been broken. But I will not undertake to explain; 
we are curious creatures, as every one knows ; and there are 
passages in the lives of all men, so out of keeping with the 
common tenor of their ways, and so seemingly contradictory 
of themselves, that only He who made us can expound them 


CHAPTER LI 


THE EMIGRANTS. 

After the first miserable weather we experienced at sea, 
we had intervals of foul and fair, mostly the former, how- 
ever, attended with head winds ; till at last, after a three 
days’ fog and rain, the sun rose cheerily one morning, and 
showed us Cape Clear. Thank heaven, we were out of 
the weather emphatically called Channel weather, '' and 
the last we should see of the eastern hemisphere was now 
in plain sight, and all the rest was broad ocean. 

Land ho! was cried, as the dark purple headland grew 
out of the north. At the cry, the Irish emigrants came 
rushing up the hatchway, thinking America itself was at 
hand. 

“ Where is it ?” cried one of them, running out a little 
way on the bowsprit. “ Is that it ?” 

“ Aye, it doesn’t look much like ould Ireland, does it ?” 
said Jackson. 

“Not a bit, honey : — and how long before we get there? 
to-night ?” 

Nothing could exceed the disappointment and grief of the 
emigrants, when they were at last informed, that the land 
to the north was their own native island, which, after leaving 
three or four weeks previous in a steamboat for Liverpool, 
was now close to them again ; and that, after newly voyaging 
so many days from the Mersey, the Highlander was only 
bringing them in view of the original home whence they 
started. 

They were the most simple people I had ever seen. They 
seemed to have no adeq^uate idea of distances ; and to them. 


HiS FIRST VOYAGE. 


325 


America must have seemed as a place just over a river. 
Every morning some of them came on deck, to see how 
much nearer we were : and one old man would stand for 
hours together, looking straight off from the bows, as if he 
expected to see New York city every minute, when, perhaps, 
we were yet two thousand miles distant, and steering, more- 
over, against a head wind. 

The only thing that ever diverted this poor old man from 
his earnest search for land, was the occasional appearance of 
porpoises under the bows ; when he would cry out at the 
top of his voice — “ Look, look, ye divils ! look at the great 
pigs of the s’a !” 

At last, the emigrants began to think, that the ship had 
played them false ; and that she was bound for the East 
Indies, or some other remote place ; and one night, Jackson 
set a report going among them, that Riga purposed taking 
them to Barbary, and selling them all for slaves ; but though 
some of the old women almost believed it, and a great weep- 
ing ensued among the children, yet the men knew better than 
to believe such a ridiculous tale. 

Of all the emigrants, my Italian boy Carlo, seemed most 
at his ease. He would lie all day in a dreamy mood, sunning 
himself in the long boat, and gazing out on the sea. At 
night, he would bring up his organ, and play for several 
hours; much to the delight of his fellow voyagers, who 
blessed him and his organ again and again ; and paid him 
for his music by furnishing him his meals. Sometimes, the 
steward would come forward, when it happened to be very 
much of a moonlight, with a message from the cabin, for 
Carlo to repair to the quarter-deck, and entertain the gen- 
tlemen and ladies. 

There was a fiddler on board, as will presently be seen ; 
and sometimes, by urgent entreaties, he was induced to unite 
his music with Carlo’s, for the benefit of the cabin occupants , 
but this was only twice or thrice : for this fiddler deemed 
himself considerably elevated above the other steerage-pas- 


326 


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sengers ; and did not much fancy the idea of fiddling to 
strangers ; and thus wear out his elbow, while persons, 
entirely unknown to him, and in whose welfare he felt not 
the slightest interest, were curveting about in famous high 
spirits. So for the most part, the gentlemen and ladies were 
fain to dance as well as they could to my little Italian’s organ. 

It was the most accommodating organ in the world ; for 
it could play any tune that was called for ; Carlo pulling in 
and out the ivory knobs at one side, and so manufacturing 
melody at pleasure. 

True, some censorious gentlemen cabin-passengers pro- 
tested, that such or such an air, was not precisely according 
to Handel or Mozart; and some ladies, whom I overheard 
talking about throwing their nosegays to Malibran at Covent 
Garden, assured the attentive Captain Higa, that Carlo’s 
organ was a most wretched affair, and made a horrible din. 

“ Yes, ladies,” said the captain, bowing, “ by your leave, 
I think Carlo’s organ must have lost its mother, for it squealls 
like a pig running after its dam.” 

Harry was incensed at these criticisms ; and yet these 
cabin-people were all ready enough to dance to poor Carlo’s 
music. 

“ Carlo” — said I, one night, as he was marching forward 
from the quarter-deck, after one of these sea-quadrilles, which 
took place during my watch on deck : — “ Carlo” — said I, 
“ what do the gentlemen and ladies give you for playing ?” 

“ Look !” — and he showed m-e three copper medals of 
Britannia and her shield — ^three English pennies. 

Now, whenever we discover a dislike in us, toward any 
one, we should ever be a Httle suspicious of ourselves. It 
may be, therefore, that the natural antipathy, with which 
almost all seamen and steerage-passengers, regard the inmates 
of the cabin, was one cause at least, of my not feeling very 
charitably disposed toward them, myself 

Yes : that might have been ; but nevertheless, I will let 
nature have her own way for once ; and here declare round- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


327 


ly, that, however it was, I cherished a feeling toward these 
cabin-passengers, akin to contempt. Not because they hap- 
pened to be cabin-passengers : not at all : hut only because 
they seemed the most finical, miserly, mean men and women, 
that ever stepped over the Atlantic. 

One of them was an old fellow in a robust looking coat, 
with broad skirts ; he had a nose like a bottle of port-wine ; 
and would stand for a whole hour, with his legs straddling 
apart, and his hands deep down in his breeches pockets, as 
if he had two mints at work there, coining guineas. He 
was an abominable looking old fellow, with cold, fat, jelly- 
like eyes ; and avarice, heartlessness, and sensuality stamped 
all over him. He seemed all the time going through some 
process of mental arithmetic ; doing sums with dollars and 
cents : his very mouth, wrinkled and drawn up at the 
corners, looked like a purse. When he dies, his skull ought 
to be turned into a savings’ box, with the till-hole between 
his teeth. 

Another of the cabin inmates, was a middle-aged Londoner, 
in a comical Cockney-cut coat, with a pair of semicircular 
tails : so that he looked as if he were sitting in a swing. 
He wore a spotted neckerchief ; a short, little, fiery-red vest ; 
and striped pants, very thin in the calf, but very full about 
the waist. There was nothing describable about him but 
his dress ; for he had such a meaningless face, I can not 
remember it ; though I have a vague impression, that it 
looked at the time, as if its owner was laboring under the 
mumps. 

Then there were two or three buckish looking young 
fellows, among the rest ; who were all the time playing at 
cards on the poop, under the lee of the spanker; or smoking 
cigars on the taffirail ; or sat quizzing the emigrant women 
with opera-glasses, leveled through the windows of the upper 
cabin. These sparks frequently called for the steward to 
help them to brandy and water, and talked about g fing on 
to Washington, to see Niagara Falls. 


328 


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There was also an old gentleman, who had brought with 
him three or four heavy files of the London Times, and 
other papers ; and he spent all his hours in reading them, 
on the shady side of the deck, with one leg crossed over the 
other ; and without crossed legs, he never read at all. 
That was indispensable to the proper understanding of what 
he studied. He growled terribly, when disturbed by the 
sailors, who now and then were obliged to move him to get 
at the ropes. 

As for the ladies, I have nothing to say concerning them ; 
for ladies are like creeds ; if you can not speak well of them, 
say nothing. 


CHAPTER LII. 

THE emigrants’ KITCHEN. 

I HAVE made some mention, of the “ galley,” or great 
stove for the steerage passengers, which was planted over 
the main hatches. 

During the outward-bound passage, there were so few 
occupants of the steerage, that they had abundant room to 
do their cooking at this galley. But it was otherwise nov’^ ; 
for we had four or five hundred in the steerage ; and all 
their cooking was to be done by one fire ; a pretty large one, 
to be sure, but, nevertheless, small enough, considering the 
number to be accommodated, and the fact that the fire was 
only to be kindled at certain hours. 

For the emigrants in these ships are under a sort of mar- 
tial-law ; and in all their affairs are regulated by the des- 
, potic ordinances of the captain. And though it is evident, 
that to a certain extent this is necessary, and even indispens- 
able ; yet, as- at sea no appeal lies beyond the captain, he 
too often makes unscrupulous use of his power. And as for 
going to law with him at the end of the voyage, you might 
as well go to law with the Czar of Russia. 

At making the fire, the emigrants take turns ; as it is 
often very disagreeable work, owing to the pitching of the 
ship, and the heaving of the spray over the uncovered “ gal- 
ley.” Whenever I had the morning watch, from four to 
eight, I was sure to see some poor fellow crawling up from 
below about day-break, and go to groping over the deck after 
bits of rope-yarn, or tarred canvas, for kindling-stufi'. And 
no sooner would the fire be fairly made, than up came the 
old women, and men, and children ; each armed with an 


330 


REDBUBN: 


iron pot or saucepan ; and invariably a great tumult en- 
sued, as to whose turn to cook came next ; sometimes the 
more quarrelsome would fight, and upset each other’s pots 
and pans. 

Once,., an English lad came up with a little cofTee-pot, 
which he managed to crowd in between two pans. This 
done, he went below. Soon after a great strapping Irish- 
man, in knee-breeches and bare calves, made his appear- 
ance ; and eying the row of things on the fire, asked whose 
coffee-pot that was ; upon being told, he removed it, and 
put his own in its place ; saying something about that in- 
dividual place .belonging to him ; and with that, he turned 
aside. 

Not long after, the boy came along again ; and seeing 
his pot removed, made a violent exclamation, and replaced 
it ; which the Irishman no sooner perceived, than he rushed 
at him, with his fists doubled. The boy snatched up the 
boiling coffee, and spirted its contents all about the fellow’s 
bare legs ; which incontinently began to dance involuntary 
hornpipes and fandangoes, as a preliminary to giving chase 
to the boy, who by this time, however, had decamped. 

Many similar scenes occurred every day ; nor did a single 
day pass, but scores of the poor people got no chance what- 
ever to do their cooking. 

This was bad enough ; but it was a still more miserable 
thing, to see these poor emigrants wrangling and fighting 
together for the want of the most ordinary accommodations. 
But thus it is, that the very hardships to which such beings 
are subjected, instead of uniting them, only tends, by imbit- 
tering their tempers, to set them against each other ; and 
thus they themselves drive the strongest rivet into the chain, 
by which their social superiors hold them subject. 

It was with a most reluctant hand, that every evening 
in the second dog-watch, at the mate’s command, I would 
march up to the fire, and giving notice to the assembled 
crowd, that the time was come to extinguish it, would 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


331 


dash it out with my bucket of salt water ; though many, 
who had long waited for a chance to cook, had now to go 
away disappointed. 

The staple food of the Irish emigrants was oatmeal and 
water, boiled into what is sometimes called mush; by the 
Dutch is known as supaan ; by sailors burgoo ; by the New 
Englanders hasty-pudding ; in which hasty-pudding, by 
the way, the poet Barlow found the materials for a sort of 
epic. 

Some of the steerage passengers, however, were provided 
with sea-biscuit, and other perennial food, that was eatable 
all the year round, fire or no fire. 

There were several, moreover, who seemed better to do 
in the world than the rest ; who were well furnished with 
hams, cheese, Bologna sausages, Dutch herrings, alewives, 
and other delicacies adapted to the contingencies of a voy- 
ager in the steerage. 

There was a little old Englishman on board, who had 
been a grocer ashore, whose greasy trunks seemed all pan- 
tries ; and he was constantly using himself for a cupboard, 
by transferring their contents into his own interior. He was 
a little light of head, I always thought. He particularly 
doated on his long strings of sausages ; and would sometimes 
take them out, and play with them, wreathing them round 
him, like an Indian juggler with charmed snakes. What 
with this diversion, and eating his cheese, and helping him- 
self from an inexhaustible junk bottle, and smoking his pipe, 
and meditating, this crack-pated grocer made time jog along 
with him at a tolerably easy pace. 

But by far the most considerable man in the steerage, in 
point of pecuniary circumstances at least, was a slender lit- 
tle pale-faced English tailor, who it seemed had engaged a 
passage for himself and wife in some imaginary section of 
the ship, called the second cabin, which was feigned to com- 
bine the comforts of the first cabin with the cheapness of 
the steerage. But it turned out that this second cabin was 


332 


REDBURN; 


comprised in the after part of the steerage itself, with noth- 
ing intervening but a name. So to his no small disgust, he 
found himself herding with the rabble ; and his complaints 
to the captain were unheeded. 

This luckless tailor was tormented the whole voyage by 
his wife, who was young and handsome ; just such a beauty 
as farmers’ -boys fall in love with ; she had bright eyes, and 
red cheeks, and looked plump and happy. 

She was a sad coquette ; and did not turn away, as she 
was bound to do, from the dandy glances of the cabin bucks, 
who ogled her through their double-barreled opera-glasses. 
This enraged the tailor past telling ; he would remonstrate 
with his wife, and scold her ; and lay his matrimonial com- 
mands upon her, to go below instantly, out of sight. But 
the lady was not to be tyrannized over ; and so she told him. 
Meantime, the bucks would be still framing her in their 
lenses, mightily enjoying the fun. The last resource of the 
poor tailor would be, to start up, and make a dash at the 
rogues, with clenched fists ; but upon getting as far as the 
mainmast, the mate would accost him from over the rope 
that divided them, and beg leave to communicate the fact, 
that he could come no further. 

This unfortunate tailor was also a fiddler ; and when 
fairly baited into desperation, would rush for his instrument, 
and try to get rid of his wrath by playing the most savage, 
remorseless airs he could think of. 

While thus employed, perhaps his wife would accost 
him — 

“Billy, my dear and lay her soft hand on his shoulder. 

But Billy, he only fiddled the harder. 

“ Billy, my love !’ 

The bow went faster and faster. 

“ Come, now, Billy, my dear little fellow, let’s make it 
all up and she bent over his knees, looking bewitchingly 
up at him, with her irresistible eyes. 

Down went fiddle and bow ; and the couple would sit to- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


333 


gether for an hour or two, as pleasant and affectionate as 
possible. 

But the next day, the chances were, that the old feud 
would he renewed, which was certain to be the case at the 
first glimpse of an opera-glass from the cabin. 


CHAPTER LIII. 


THE HORATII AND CURIATII. 

With a slight alteration, I might begin this chapter at ter 
the manner of Livy, in the 24th section of his first book : — 
“ It happened, that in each family were three twin brothers, 
between whom there ivas little disparity in point of age or of 
strength y 

Among the steerage passengers of the Highlander, were 
two women from Armagh, in Ireland, widows and sisters, 
who had each three twin sons, born, as they said, on the 
same day. 

They were ten years old. Each three of these six cousins 
were as like as the mutually reflected figures in a kaleido- 
scope ; and like the forms seen in a kaleidoscope, together, as 
well as separately, they seemed to form a complete figure. 
But, though besides this fraternal likeness, all six boys bore 
a strong cousin-german resemblance to each other ; yet, the 
O’Briens were in disposition quite the reverse of the O’Re- 
gans. The former were a timid, silent trio, who used to 
revolve around their mother’s waist, and seldom quit the ma- 
ternal orbit ; whereas, the O’Regans were “ broths of boys,” 
full of mischief and fun, and given to all manner of devil- 
ment, like the tails of the comets. 

Early every morning, Mrs. O’ Regan emerged from the steer- 
age, driving her spirited twins before her, like a riotous herd of 
young steers ; and made her way to the capacious deck-tub, 
full of salt water, pumped up from the sea, for the purpose 
of washing down the ship. Three splashes, and the three 
boys were ducking and diving together in the brine ; their 
mother engaged in shampooing them, though it was hap- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


335 


hazard sort of work enough ; a rub here, and a scrub there, 
as she could manage to fasten on a stray limb. 

“Pat, ye divil, hould still while I wash ye. Ah ! but 
it’s you, Teddy, you rogue. Arrah, now, Mike, ye spal- 
peen, don’t be mixing your legs up with Pat’s.” 

The little rascals, leaping and scrambling with delight, 
enjoyed the sport mightily ; while this indefatigable, but 
merry matron, manipulated them all over, as if it were a 
matter of conscience. 

Meanwhile, Mrs. O’Brien would be standing on the boat- 
swain’s locker — or rope and tar-pot pantry in the vessel’s 
bows — with a large old quarto Bible, black with age, laid 
before her between the knight-heads, and reading aloud to 
her three meek little lambs. 

The sailors took much pleasure in the deck-tub perform- 
ances of the O’Uegans, and greatly admired them always for 
their archness and activity ; but the tranquil O’Briens they 
did not fancy so much. More especially they disliked the 
grave matron herself ; hooded in rusty black ; and they had 
a bitter grudge against her book. To that, and the incant- 
ations muttered over it, they ascribed the head winds that 
haunted us ; and Blunt, our Irish cockney, really believed 
that Mrs. O’Brien purposely came on deck every morning, 
in order to secure a foul wind for the next ensuing twenty- 
four hours. 

At last, upon her coming forward one morning. Max the 
Dutchman accosted her, saying he was sorry for it, but if 
she went between the knight-heads again with her book, the 
crew would throw it overboard for her. 

Now, although contrasted in character, there existed a 
great warmth of affection between the two families of twins, 
which upon this occasion was curiously manifested. 

Notwithstanding the rebuke and threat of the sailor, the 
widow silently occupied her old place ; and with her children 
clustering round her, began her low, muttered reading, 
standing right in the extreme bows of the ship, and slightly 


336 


R E D B U R N : 


leaning over them, as if addressing the multitudinous waves 
from a floating pulpit. Presently Max came behind her, 
snatched the book from her hands, and threw it overboard. 
The widow gave a wail, and her boys set up a cry. Their 
cousins, then ducking in the water close by, at once saw the 
cause of the cry ; and springing from the tub, like so many 
dogs, seized Max by the legs, biting and striking at him : 
which, the before timid little O’Briens no sooner perceived, 
than they, too, threw themselves on the enemy, and the 
amazed seaman found himself baited like a bull by all six 
boys. 

And here it gives me joy to record one good thing on the 
part of the mate. He saw the fray, and its beginning ; and 
rushing forward, told Max that he would harm the boys at 
his peril ; while he cheered them on, as if rejoiced at their 
giving the fellow such a tussle. At last Max, sorely 
scratched, bit, pinched, and every way aggravated, though 
of course without a serious bruise, cried out “ enough !” and 
the assailants were ordered to quit him ; but though the 
three O’Briens obeyed, the three. O’Regans hung on to him 
like leeches, and had to be dragged off. 

“ There now, you rascal,” cried the mate, “ throw over- 
board another Bible, and I’ll send you after it without a 
bowline.” 

This event gave additional celebrity to the twins through- 
out the vessel. That morning all six were invited to the 
quarter-deck, and reviewed by the cabin-passengers, the ladies 
manifesting particular interest in them, as they always d'o 
concerning twins, which some of them show in public parks 
and gardens, by stopping to look at them, and questioning 
their nurses. 

“And were you all born at one time ?” asked an old lady, 
letting her eye run in wonder along the even file of white heads. 

“ Indeed, an’ we were,” said Teddy ; “ wasn’t we, mother ?” 

Many more questions were asked and answered, when a 
collection was taken up for their benefit among these mag- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


337 


nanimous cabin-passengers, which resulted in starting all six 
boys in the world with a penny apiece. 

I never could look at these little fellows without an inex- 
plicable feeling coming over me ; and though there was 
nothing so very remarkable or unprecedented about them, 
except the singular coincidence of two sisters simultaneously 
making the world such a generous present ; yet, the mere fact 
of there being twins always seemed curious ; in fact, to me at 
least, all twins are prodigies ; and still I hardly know why 
this should be ; for all of us in our own persons furnish 
numerous examples of the same phenomenon. Are not our 
thumbs twins ? A regular Castor and Pollux ? And all of 
our fingers ? Are not our arms, hands, legs, feet, eyes, ears, 
all twins ; born at one birth, and as much alike as they 
possibly can be ? 

Can it be, that the Greek grammarians invented their 
dual number for the particular benefit of twins ? 

P 

1 ' 


CHAPTER LIV. 


SOME SUPERIOR OLD NAIL-ROD AND PIG-TAIL. 

It has been mentioned how advantageously my shipmates 
disposed of their tobacco in Liverpool ; but it is to be related 
how those nefarious commercial speculations of theirs reduced 
them to sad extremities in the end. 

True to their improvident character, and seduced by the 
high prices paid for the weed in England, they had there 
sold off by far the greater portion of what tobacco they had ; 
even inducing the mate to surrender the portion he had 
secured under lock and key by command of the Custom- 
house officers. So that when the crew were about two 
weeks out, on the homeward-bound passage, it became sor- 
rowfully evident that tobacco was at a premium. 

Now, one of the favorite pursuits of sailors during a dog- 
watch below at sea is cards ; and though they do not under- 
stand whist, cribbage, and games of that kidney, yet they 
are adepts at what is called “ High-low-Jack-and-the-game,'' 
which name, indeed, has a Jackish and nautical flavor. 
Their stakes are generally so many plugs of tobacco, which, 
like rouleaux of guineas, are piled on their chests when they 
play. Judge, then, the wicked zest with which the High- 
lander’s crew now shuffled and dealt the pack ; and how 
the interest curiously and invertedly increased, as the stakes 
necessarily became less and less ; and finally resolved them- 
selves into “ chmvs.'^^ ’ 

So absorbed, at last, -did they become at this business, 
that some of them, after being hard at work during a night- 
watch on deck, would rob themselves of rest below, in order 
to have a brush at the cards. And as it is very difficult sleep- 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE, 


339 


ing ill the presence of gamblers ; especially if they chance to 
be sailors, whose conversation at all times is apt to he bois- 
terous ; these fellows would often be driven out of the fore- 
castle by those who desired to rest. They were obliged to 
repair on deek, and make a card-table of it ; and invariably, 
in such cases, there was a great deal of contention, a great 
many ungentlemanly charges of nigging and cheating ; and, 
now and then, a few parenthetical blows were exchanged. 

But this was not so much to he wondered at, seeing they 
could see hut very little, being provided with no light but 
that of a midnight sky ; and the cards, from long wear and 
rough usage, having become exceedingly torn and tarry, so 
much so, that several members of the four suits might have 
seceded from their respective clans, and formed into a fifth 
tribe, under the name of “ Tar -spots'^ 

Every day the tobacco grew scarcer and scarcer ; till at 
last it became necessary to adopt the greatest possible econ- 
omy in its use. The modicum constituting an ordinary 
“ chaiv,'' was made to last a whole day ; and at night, per- 
mission being had from the cook, this self-same “chaw” was 
placed in the oven of the stove, and there dried ; so as to do 
duty in a pipe. 

In the end not a plug was to be had ; and deprived of a 
solace and a stimulus, on which sailors so much rely while 
at sea, the crew became absent, moody, and sadly tormented 
with the hypos. They were something like opium-smokers, 
suddenly cut off from their drug. They would sit on their 
chests, forlorn and moping ; with a steadfast sadness, eying 
the forecastle lamp, at which they had lighted so many a 
pleasant pipe. With touching eloquence they recalled those 
happier evenings — the time of smoke and vapor ; when, after 
a whole day’s delectable “ chawing^ they beguiled them- 
selves with their genial, and most companionable puffs. 

One night, when they seemed more than usually cast down 
and disconsolate. Blunt, the Irish cockney, started up suddenly 
with an idea in his head — “ Boys, let’s search under the bunks !” 


340 


REDBURN; 


Bless you, Blunt ! what a happy conceit ! 

Forthwith, the chests were dragged out ; the dark places 
explored ; and two sticks of nail-rod tobacco, and several 
old “ chaws'' thrown aside by sailors on some previous voy- 
age, were their cheering reward. They were impartially 
divided by Jackson, who, upon this occasion, acquitted him- 
self to the satisfaction of all. 

Their mode of dividing this tobacco was the rather curious 
one generally adopted by sailors, when the highest possible 
degree of impartiality is desirable. I will describe it, recom- 
mending its earnest consideration to all heirs, who may here- 
after divide an inheritance ; for if they adopted this nautical 
method, that universally slanderous aphorism of Lavater 
would be forever rendered nugatory — “ Expect not to under- 
stand any man till you have divided with him an inherit- 
ance." 

The nail-rods they cut as evenly as possible into as many 
parts as there were men to be supplied ; and this operation 
having been performed in the presence of all, Jackson, plac- 
ing the tobacco before him, his face to the wall, and back to 
the company, struck one of the bits of weed with his knife, 
crying out, “ Whose is this V Whereupon a respondent, 
previously pitched upon, replied, at a venture, from the op- 
posite corner of the forecastle, “ Blunt’s and to Blunt it 
went ; and so on, in like manner, till all were served. 

I put it to you, lawyers — shade of Blackstone, I invoke 
you — if a more impartial procedure could be imagined than 
this ? 

But the nail-rods and last-voyage “ chaws" were soon 
gone, and then, after a short interval of comparative gayety, 
the men again drooped, and relapsed into gloom. 

They soon hit upon an ingenious device, however but 

not altogether new among seamen — to allay the severity of 
the depression under which they languished. Ropes were 
unstranded, and the yarns picked apart ; and, cut up into 
small bits, were used as a substitute for the weed. Old 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


341 


ropes were preferred ; especially those which had long lain 
in the hold, and had contracted an epicurean dampness, 
making still richer their ancient, cheese-like flavor. 

In the middle of most large ropes, there is a straight, 
central part, round which the exterior strands are twisted. 
When in picking oakum, upon various occasions, I have 
chanced, among the old junk used at such times, to light 
upon a fragment of this species of rope, I have ever taken, 
I know not what kind of strange, nutty delight in untwisting 
it slowly, and gradually coming upon its deftly hidden and 
aromatic for so this central piece is denominated. 

It is generally of a rich, tawny, Indian hue, somewhat 
inclined to luster ; is exceedingly agreeable to the touch ; 
diffuses a pungent odor, as of an old dusty bottle of Port, 
newly opened above ground ; and, altogether, is an object 
which no man, who enjoys his dinners, could refrain from 
hanging over, and caressing. 

Nor is this delectable morsel of old junk wanting in many 
interesting, mournful, and tragic suggestions. Who can say 
in what gales it may have been ; in what remote seas it 
may have sailed ? How many stout masts of seventy-fours 
and frigates it may have staid in the tempest ? How deep 
it may have lain, as a hawser, at the bottom of strange 
harbors ? What outlandish fish may have nibbled at it in 
the water, and what uncatalogued sea-fowl may have pecked 
at it, when forming part of a lofty stay or a shroud ? 

Now, this particular part of the rope, this nice little “cut” 
it was, that among the sailors was the most eagerly sought 
after. And getting hold of a foot or two of old cable, they 
would cut into it lovingly, to see whether it had any ^^ten- 
derloin^ 

For my own part, nevertheless, I can not say that this 
tit-bit was at all an agreeable one in the mouth ; however 
pleasant to the sight of an antiquary, or to the nose of an 
epicure in nautical fragrancies. Indeed, though possibly I 
might have been mistaken, I thought it had rather an as- 


342 


R E D B U R N : 


tringent, acrid taste ; probably induced by the tar, with 
which the flavor of all ropes is more or less vitiated. But 
the sailors seemed to like it, and at any rate nibbled at it 
with great gusto. They converted one pocket of their trowsers 
into a junk-shop, and when solicited by a shipmate for a 
“ chaw,” would produce a small coil of rope. 

Another device adopted to alleviate their hardships, was 
the substitution of dried tea-leaves, in place of tobacco, for 
their pipes. No one has ever supped in a forecastle at sea. 
without having been struck by the prodigious residuum of 
tea-leaves, or cabbage stalks, in his tin-pot of bohea. There 
was no lack of material to supply every pipe-bowl among us. 

I had almost forgotten to relate the most noteworthy thing 
in this matter ; namely, that notwithstanding the general 
scarcity of the genuine weed, Jackson was provided with a 
supply ; nor did it give out, until very shortly previous to 
our arrival in port. 

In the lowest depths of despair at the loss of their precious 
solace, when the sailors would be seated inconsolable as the 
Babylonish captives, Jackson would sit cross-legged in his 
bunk, which was an upper one, and enveloped in a cloud 
of tobacco smoke, would look down upon the mourners be- 
low, with a sardonic grin at their forlornness. 

He recalled to mind their folly in selling for filthy lucre, 
their supplies of the weed ; he painted their stupidity ; he 
enlarged upon the sufferings they had brought upon them- 
selves ; he exaggerated those sufferings, and every way de- 
rided, reproached, twitted, and hooted at them. No one 
dared to return his scurrilous animadversions, nor did any 
presume to ask him to relieve their necessities out of his 
fullness. On the contraiy, as has been just related, they 
divided with him the nail-rods they found. 

The extraordinary dominion of this one miserable Jackson, 
over twelve or fourteen strong, healthy tars, is a riddle, whosa 
solution must be left to the philosophers. 


CHAPTER LV. 


DRAWING NIGH TO THE LAST SCENE IN JACKSON’s CAREER. 

The closing allusion to Jackson in the chapter preced- 
ing, reminds me of a circumstance — which, perhaps, should 
have been mentioned before — that after we had been at 
sea about ten days, he pronounced himself too unwell to do 
duty, and accordingly went below to his bunk. And here, 
with the exception of a few brief intervals of sunning him- 
self in fine weather, he remained on his back, or seated 
cross-legged, during the remainder of the homeward-bound 
passage. 

Brooding there, in his infernal gloom, though nothing but 
a castaway sailor in canvas trowsers, this man was still a 
picture, worthy to be painted by the dark, moody hand of 
Salvator. In any of that master’s lowering sea-pieces, rep- 
resenting the desolate crags of Calabria, with a midnight 
shipwreck in the distance, this Jackson’s would have been 
the face to paint for the doomed vessel’s figure-head, seamed 
and blasted by lightning. 

Though the more sneaking and cowardly of my shipmates 
whispered among themselves, that Jackson, sure of his wages, 
whether on duty or off, was only feigning indisposition, never- 
theless it was plain that, from his excesses in Liverpool, the 
malady which had long fastened its fangs in his flesh, was 
now gnawing into his vitals. 

His cheek became thinner and yellower, and the bones 
projected like those of a skull. His snaky eyes rolled in red 
sockets; nor could he lift his hand without a violent tremor; 


344 


RE DBURN: 


while his racking cough many a time startled us from sleep. 
Yet still in his tremulous grasp he swayed his scepter, and 
ruled us all like a tyrant to the last. 

The weaker and weaker he grew, the more outrageous 
became his treatment of the crew. The prospect of the 
speedy and unshunable death now before him, seemed to 
exasperate his misanthropic soul into madness ; and as if he 
had indeed sold it to Satan, he seemed determined to die 
with a curse between his teeth. 

I can never think of him, even now, reclining in his hunk, 
and with short breaths panting out his maledictions, but I 
am reminded of that misanthrope upon the throne of the 
world — the diabolical Tiberius at Capreae ; who even in his 
self-exile, imbittered by bodily pangs, and unspeakable men- 
tal terrors only known to the damned on earth, yet did not 
give over his blasphemies, but endeavored to drag down wdth 
him to his own perdition, all who came within the evil spell 
of his power. And though Tiberius came in the succession 
of the Caesars, and though unmatchable Tacitus has em- 
balmed his carrion, yet do I account this Yankee Jackson 
full as dignified a personage as he, and as well meriting his 
lofty gallows in history ; even though he was a nameless 
vagabond without an epitaph, and none, but I, narrate what 
he was. For there is no dignity in wickedness, whether in 
purple or rags ; and hell is a democracy of devils, where all 
are equals. There, Nero howls side by side wdth his own 
malefactors. If Napoleon were truly but a martial mur- 
derer, I pay him no more homage than I would a felon. 
Though Milton’s Satan dilutes our abhorrence with admira- 
tion, it is only because he is not a genuine being, but some- 
thing altered from a genuine original. We gather not from 
the four gospels alone, any high-raised fancies concerning 
this Satan ; we only know him from thence as the person- 
ification of the essence of evil, which, who but pickpockets 
and burglars will admire? But this takes not from the 
merit of our high-priest of poetry ; it only enhances it, that 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE- 


345 


with such unmitigated evil for his material, he should build 
up his most goodly structure. 

But in historically canonizing on earth the condemned 
below, and lifting up and lauding the illustrious damned, 
we do but make ensamples of wickedness ; and call upon 
ambition to do some great iniquity, and be sure of fame. 

P# 


CHAPTER LVI. 


UNDER THE LEE OF THE LONG-BOAT, REDBURN AND HARRY 
HOLD CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNION. 

A SWEET thing is a song ; and though the Hebrew cap- 
tives hung their harps on the willows, that they could not 
sing the melodies of Palestine before the haughty beards of 
the Babylonians ; yet, to themselves, those melodies of other 
times and a distant land were sweet as the June dew on 
Hermon. • 

And poor Harry was as the Hebrews. He, too, had been 
carried away captive, though his chief captor and foe was 
himself ; and he, too, many a night, was called upon to sing 
for those who through the day had insulted and derided 
him. 

His voice was just the voice to proceed from a small, 
silken person like his ; it was gentle and liquid, and mean- 
dered and tinkled through the words of a song, like a mu- 
sical brook that winds and wantons by pied and pansied 
margins. 

“ I can’t sing to-night” — sadly said Harry to the Dutch- 
man, who with his watchmates requested him to while away 
the middle watch with his melody — “ I can’t sing to-night. 
But, Wellingborough,” he whispered, — and I stooped my 
ear, — “ come you with me under the lee of the long-boat, 
and there I’ll hum you an air.” 

It was The Banks of ' the Blue Moselle. 

Poor, poor Harry ! and a thousand times friendless and 
forlorn ! To be singing that thing, which was only meant 
to be warbled by falling fountains in gardens, or in elegant 

alcoves in drawing-rooms, — ^to be singing it here here, as I 

live, under the tarry lee of our long-boat. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


347 


But he sang, and sang, as I watched the waves, and 
peopled them all with sprites, and cried “ chassez “ hands 
across/'' to the multitudinous quadrilles, all danced on the 
moonlit, musical floor. 

But though it went so hard with my friend to sing his 
songs to this ruffian crew, whom he hated, even in his 
dreams, till the foam flew from his mouth while he slept ; 
yet at last I prevailed upon him to master his feelings, and 
make them subservient to his interests. For so delighted, 
even with the rudest minstrelsy, are sailors, that I well 
knew Harry possessed a spell over them, which, for the time 
at least, they could not resist ; and it might induce them to 
treat with more deference the being who was capable of 
yielding them such delight. Carlo’s organ they did not so 
much care for ; but the voice of my Bury blade was an 
accordeon in their ears. 

So one night, on the windlass, he sat and sang ; and from 
the ribald jests so common to sailors, the men slid into si- 
lence at every verse. Hushed, and more hushed they grew, 
till at last Harry sat among them like Orpheus among the 
charmed leopards and tigers. Harmless now the fangs with 
which they were wont to tear my zebra, and backward 
curled in velvet paws ; and fixed their once glaring eyes in 
fascinated and fascinating brilliancy. Ay, still and hissingly 
all, for a time, they relinquished their prey. 

Now, during the voyage, the treatment of the crew threw 
Harry more and more upon myself for companionship ; and 
few can keep constant company with another, without re- 
vealing some, at least, of their secrets ; for all of us yearn 
for sympathy, even if we do not for love ; and to be intel- 
lectually alone is a thing only tolerable to genius, whose 
cherisher and inspirer is solitude. 

But though my friend became more communicative con- 
cerning his past career than ever he had been before, yet ho 
did not make plain many things in his hitherto but partly 
flividged history, which I was very curious to know ; and 


348 


R E D B U R N ; 


especially he never made the remotest allusion to aught 
connected with our trip to London ; while the oath of se- 
crecy by which he had bound me held my curiosity on that 
point a captive. However, as it was, Harry made many 
very interesting disclosures ; and if he did not gratify me 
more in that respect, he atoned for it in a measure, by 
dwelling upon the future, and the prospects, such as they 
were, which the future held out to him. 

He confessed that he had no money but a few shillings 
left from the expenses of our return from London ; that only 
by selling some more of his clothing, could he pay for his 
first week’s board in New York ; and that he was altogether 
without any regular profession or business, upon which, by 
his own exertions, he could securely rely for support. And 
yet, he told me that he was determined never again to re- 
turn to England ; and that somewhere in America he must 
work out his temporal felicity. 

“ I have forgotten England,” he said, “ and never more 
mean to think of it ; so tell me, Wellingborough, what am 
I to do in America ?” 

It was a puzzling question, and full of grief to me, who, 
young though I was, had been well rubbed, curried, and 
ground down to fine powder in the hopper of an evil fortune, 
and who therefore could sympathize with one in similar cir- 
cumstances. For though we may look grave and behave 
kindly and considerately to a friend in calamity ; yet, if we 
have never actually experienced something like the woe that 
weighs him down, we can not with the best grace proffer 
our sympathy. And perhaps there is no true sympathy 
but between equals ; and it may be, that we should distrust 
that man’s sincerity, who stoops to condole with us. 

So Harry and I, two friendless wanderers, beguiled many 
a long watch by talking over our common affairs. But 
inefficient, as a benefactor, as I certainly was ; still, being 
an American, and returning to my home ; even as he was a 
stranger, and hurrying from his ; therefore, I stood towaid 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


349 


him in the attitude of the prospective doer of the honors of 
my country ; I accounted him the nation’s guest. Hence, I 
esteemed it more befitting, that I should rather talk with 
him, than he with me : that his prospects and plans should 
engage our attention, in preference to my own. 

Now, seeing that Harry was so brave a songster, and 
could sing such bewitching airs : I suggested whether his 
musical talents could not be turned to account. The thought 
struck him most favorably — “Gad, my boy, you have hit it, 
you have,” and then he went on to mention, that in some 
places in England, it was customary for two or three young 
men of highly respectable families, of undoubted antiquity, 
but unfortunately in lamentably decayed circumstances, 
and thread-bare coats ; — it was customary for two or three 
young gentlemen, so situated, to obtain their livelihood 
by their voices : coining their silvery songs into silvery shil- 
lings. 

They wandered from door to door, and rang the bell — 
Are the ladies and gentlemen in ? Seeing them at least 
gentlemanly looking, if not sumptuously appareled, the 
servant generally admitted them at once ; and when the 
people entered to greet them, their spokesman would rise 
with a gentle bow, and a smile, and say. We come, ladies 
and gentlemen, to sing yon a song : we are singers, at your 
service. And so, without waiting reply, forth they burst 
into song ; and having most mellifluous voices, enchanted 
and transported all auditors ; so much so, that at the con- 
clusion of the entertainment, they very seldom failed to be 
well recompensed, and departed with an invitation to return 
again, and make the occupants of that dwelling once more 
delighted and happy.' 

“ Could not something o*f this kind, now, be done in New 
York ?” said Harry, “ or are there no parlors with ladies in 
them, there ?” he anxiously added. 

Again I assured him, as I had often done before, that 
New York was a civilized and enlightened town ; with a 


350 


REDBUEN: 


large population, fine streets, fine houses, nay, plenty of 
omnibuses ; and that for the most part, he would almost 
think himself in England ; so similar to England, in essen- 
tials, was this outlandish America that haunted him. 

I could not but be struck — and had I not been, from my 
birth, as it were, a cosmopolite — I had been amazed at his 
skepticism with regard to the civilization of my native land. 
A greater patriot than myself might have resented his insin- 
uations. He seemed to think that we Yankees lived in 
wigwams, and wore bear-skins. After all, Harry was a 
spice of a Cockney, and had shut up his Christendom in 
London. 

Having then assured him, that I could see no reason, why 
he should not play the troubadour in New York, as well as 
elsewhere ; he suddenly popped upon me the question, 
whether I would not join him in the enterprise ; as it 
would be quite out of the question to go alone on such a 
business. 

» Said I, “ My dear Bury, I have no more voice for a ditty, 
than a dumb man has for an oration. Sing? Such Mac- 
adamized lungs have I, that I think myself well ofi’, that I 
can talk ; let alone nightingaling.” 

So that plan was quashed ; and by-and-by Harry began 
to give up the idea of singing himself into a livelihood. 

“ No, I won’t sing for my mutton,” said he — “ what 
would Lady Georgiana say ?” 

“ If I could see her ladyship once, I might tell you, 
Harry,” returned I, who did not exactly doubt him, but felt 
ill at ease for my bosom friend’s conscience, when he alluded 
to his various noble and right honorable friends and rela- 
tions. 

“ But surely. Bury, my friend, you must write a clerkly 
hand, among your other accomplishments ; and that at least, 
will be sure to help you.” 

“I do write a hand,” he gladly rejoined — “ there, look 
at the implement I — do you not think, that such a hand as 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


351 


thxit might dot an or cross a with a touching grace and 
tenderness ?” 

Indeed, but it did betoken a most excellent penmanship. 
It was small ; and the fingers were long and thin ; the 
knuckles softly rounded ; the nails hemispherical at the base ; 
and the smooth palm furnishing few characters for an Egyptian 
fortune-teller to read. It was not as the sturdy farmer’s 
hand of Cincinnatus, who followed the plough and guided the 
state ; but it was as the perfumed hand of Petronius Arbiter, 
that elegant young buck of a Roman, who once cut great 
Seneca dead in the forum. 

His hand alone, would have entitled my Bury blade to 
the sufirages of that Eastern potentate, who complimented 
Lord Byron upon his feline fingers, declaring that they 
furnished indubitable evidence of his noble birth. And so it 
did : for Lord Byron was as all the rest of us — ^the son of a 
man. And so are the dainty-handed, and wee-footed half- 
cast paupers in Lima ; who, if their hands and feet were 
entitled to consideration, would constitute the oligarchy of 
all Peru. 

Folly and foolishness ! to think that a gentleman is known 
by his finger-nails, like Nebuchadnezzar, when his grew long 
in the pasture : or that the badge of nobility is to be found 
in the smallness of the foot, when even a fish has no foot at 
all! 

Dandies ! amputate yourselves, if you will ; but know, 
and be assured, oh, democrats, that, like a pyramid, a great 
man stands on a broad base. It is only the brittle porcelain 
pagoda, that tottles on a toe. 

But though Harry’s hand was lady-like looking, and had 
once been white as the queen’s cambric handkerchief, and 
free from a stain as the reputation of Diana ; yet, his late 
pulling and hauling of halyards and clew-lines, and his 
occasional dabbling in tar-pots and slush-shoes, had somewhat 
subtracted from its original daintiness. 

Often he ruefully eyed it. 


352 


REDBURN: 


Oh ! hand ! thought Harry, ah, hand ! what have you 
come to ? Is it seemly, that you should be polluted with 
pitch, when you once handed countesses to their coaches ? 
Is this the hand I kissed to the divine Georgiana ? with 
which I pledged Lady Blessington, and ratified my bond to 
Lord Lovely ? This the hand that Georgiana clasped to 
her bosom, when she vowed she was mine ? — Out of sight, 
recreant and apostate ! — deep down — disappear in this foul 
monkey-jacket pocket where I thrust you ! 

After many long conversations, it was at last pretty well 
decided, that upon our arrival at New York, some means 
should be taken among my few friends there, to get Harry 
a place in a mercantile house, where he might flourish his 
pen, and gently exercise his delicate digits, b}V traversing 
some soft foolscap ; in the same way that slim, pallid ladies 
are gently drawn through a park for an airing. 





CHAPTER LVII. 


ALMOST A FAMINE. 

“ Mammy ! mammy ! come and see the sailors eating on 
of little troughs, just like our pigs at home.” Thus ex 
claimed one of the steerage children, who at dinner-timv 
was peeping down into the forecastle, where the crew wert 
assembled, helping themselves from the “ kids,” which, in 
deed, resemble hog-troughs not a little. 

“ Pigs, is it ?” coughed Jackson, from his bunk, where he 
sat presiding over the banquet, but not partaking, like a devil 
who had lost his appetite by chewing sulphur. — “ Pigs, is 
it ? — and the day is close by, ye spalpeens, when you’ll want 
to be after taking a sup at our troughs !” 

This malicious prophecy proved true. 

As day followed day without glimpse of shore or reef, and 
head winds drove the ship back, as hounds a deer; the im- 
providence and shortsightedness of the passengers in the 
steerage, with regard to their outfits for the voyage, began 
to be followed by the inevitable results. 

Many of them at last went aft to the mate, saying that 
they had nothing to eat, their provisions were expended, and 
they must be supplied from the ship’s stores, or starve. 

This was told to the captain, who was obliged to issue a 
ukase from the cabin, that every steerage passenger, whose 
destitution was demonstrable, should be given one sea-biscuit 
and two potatoes a day ; a sort of substitute for a muffin and 
a brace of poached eggs. 

But this scanty ration was quite insufficient to satisfy 
their hunger : hardly enough to satisfy the necessities of a 


354 


REDBURN: 


healthy adult. The consequence was, that all day long, 
and all through the night, scores of the emigrants went 
about the decks, seeking what they might devour. They 
plundered the chicken-coop ; and disguising the fowls, cooked 
them at the public galley. They made inroads upon the 
pig-pen in the boat, and carried off a promising young shoat : 
him they devoured raw, not venturing to make an incognito 
of his carcass ; they prowled about the cook’s caboose, till he 
threatened them with a ladle of scalding water ; they way- 
laid the steward on his regular excursions from the cook to 
the cabin ; they hung round the forecastle, to rob the bread- 
barge ; they beset the sailors, like beggars in the streets, 
craving a mouthful in the name of the Church. 

At length, to such excesses were they driven, that the 
Grand Russian, Captain Riga, issued another ukase, and to 
this effect : Whatsoever emigrant is found guilty of stealing, 
the same shall be tied into the rigging and flogged. 

Upon this, there were secret movements in the steerage, 
which almost alarmed me for the safety of the ship ; but 
nothing serious took place, after all ; and they even acqui- 
esced in, or did not resent, a singular punishment which the 
captain caused to be inflicted upon a culprit of their clan, as 
a substitute for a flogging. For no doubt he thought that 
such rigorous discipline as that might exasperate five hun- 
dred emigrants into an insurrection. 

A head was fitted to one of the large deck-tubs — the half of 
a cask ; and into this head a hole was cut ; also, two smaller 
holes in the bottom of the tub. The head — divided in the 
middle, across the diameter of the orifice — was now fitted 
round the culprit’s neck ; and he was forthwith coopered up 
into the tub, which rested on his shoulders, while his legs 
protruded through the holes in the bottom. 

It was a burden to carry ; but the man could walk with 
it ; and so ridiculous was his appearance, that spite of the 
indignity, he himself laughed with the rest at the figure he 
cut. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


355 


“ Now, Pat, my boy,” said the mate, “ fill that big wood, 
cn belly of yours, if you can.” 

Compassionating his situation, our old “ doctor” used to 
give him alms of food, placing it upon the cask-head before 
him ; till at last, when the time for deliverance came, Pat 
protested against mercy, and would fain have continued 
playing Diogenes in the tub for the rest of this starving 
voyage. 


.,;i4 


) 


CHAPTER LVIII. 

THOUGH THE HIGHLANDER PUTS INTO NO HARBOR AS YET ; 

SHE HERE AND THERE LEAVES MANY OF HER PASSENGERS 

BEHIND. 

Although fast-sailing ships, blest with prosperous breezes, 
have frequently made the run across the Atlantic in eighteen 
days ; yet, it is not uncommon for other vessels to be forty, 
or fifty, and even sixty, seventy, eighty, and ninety days, in 
making the same passage. Though in the latter cases, some 
signal calamity or incapacity must occasion so great a de 
tention. It is also true, that generally the passage out from 
America is shorter than the return ; which is to be ascribed 
to the prevalence of westerly winds. 

We had been outside of Cape Clear upward of twenty 
days, still harassed by head-winds, though with pleasant 
weather upon the whole, when we were visited by a succes- 
sion of rain storms, which lasted the greater part of a week. 

During this interval, the emigrants were obliged to remain 
below ; but this was nothing strange to some of them ; who, 
not recovering, while at sea, from their first attack of sea- 
sickness, seldom or never made their appearance on deck, 
during the entire passage. 

During the week, now in question, fire was only once 
made in the public ^lley. This occasioned a good deal of 
domestic work to be done in the steerage, which otherwise 
would have been done in the open air. When the lulls of 
the rain-storms would intervene, some unusually eleanly 
emigrant would climb to the deck, with a bucket of slops, to 
toss into the sea. No experience seemed sufficient to instruct 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


357 


some of these ignorant people in the simplest, and most 
elemental principles of ocean-life. Spite of all lectures on 
the subject, several would continue to shun the leeward side 
of the vessel, with their slops. One morning, Avhen it was 
blowing very fresh, a simple fellow pitched over a gallon or 
two of something to windward. Instantly it flew back in 
his face ; and also, in the face of the chief mate, who hap- 
pened to be standing by at the time. The offender was 
collared, and shaken on the spot ; and ironically commanded, 
never, for the future, to throw any thing to windward at sea, 
but fine ashes and scalding hot water. 

During the frequent hard bloivs we experienced, the 
hatchways on the steerage Avere, at intervals, hermetically 
closed ; sealing doAvn in their noisome den, those scores of 
human beings. It was something to be marveled at, that 
the shocking fate, which, but a short time ago, overtook the 
poor passengers in a Liverpool steamer in the Channel, 
during similar stormy weather, and under similar treatment, 
did not overtake some of the emigrants of the Highlander. 

Nevertheless, it was, beyond question, this noisome con- 
finement in so close, unventilated, and crowded a den : joined 
to the deprivation of sufficient food, from which many were 
suffering ; which, helped by their personal uncleanliness, 
brought on a malignant fever. 

The first report was, that two persons were affected. No 
sooner was it knoAvn, than the mate promptly repaired to 
the medicine-chest in the cabin : and Avith the remedies 
deemed suitable, descended into the steerage. But the 
medicines proved of no avail ; the invalids rapidly grew 
worse ; and two more of the emigrants became infected. 

Upon this, the captain himself went to see them ; and 
returning, sought out a certain alleged physician among the 
cabin-passengers ; begging him to wait upon the sufferers ; 
hinting that, thereby, he might prevent the disease from 
extending into the cabin itself But this person denied 
being a physician ; and from fear of contagion — though he 


358 


R E D B U R N : 


did not confess that to be the motive — refused even to enter 
the steerage. 

The cases increased : the utmost alarm spread through 
the ship ; and scenes ensued, over which, for the most part, 
a vail must be drawn ; for such is the fastidiousness of some 
readers, that, many times, they must lose the most striking 
incidents in a narrative like mine. 

Many of the panic-stricken emigrants would fain now have 
domiciled on deck ; but being so scantily clothed, the 
wretched weather — wet, cold, and tempestuous — drove the 
best part of them again below. Yet any other human 
beings, perhaps, would rather have faced the most outrageous 
storm, than continued to breathe the pestilent air of the 
steerage. But some of these poor people must have been so 
used to the most abasing calamities, that the atmosphere of 
a lazar-house almost seemed their natural air. 

The first four cases happened to be in adjoining bunks ; 
and the emigrants who slept in the farther part of the steer- 
age, threw up a barricade in front of those bunks ; so as to 
cut off communication. But this was no sooner reported to 
the captain, than he ordered it to be thrown down ; since 
it could be of no possible benefit ; but would only make still 
worse, what was already direful enough. 

It was not till after a good deal of mingled threatening 
and coaxing, that the mate succeeded in getting the sailors 
below, to accomplish the captain’s order. 

The sight that greeted us, upon entering, was wretched 
indeed. It was like entering a crowded jail. From the 
rows of rude bunks, hundreds of meager, begrimed faces 
were turned upon us ; while seated upon the chests, were 
scores of unshaven men, smoking tea-leaves, and creating a 
suffocating vapor. But this vapor was better than the 
native air of the place, which from almost unbelievable 
causes, was foetid in the extreme. In every corner, the 
females were huddled together, weeping and lamenting ; 
children were asking bread from their mothers, who had 


ms FIRST V o Y A G E. 


359 


none to give ; and old men, seated upon the floor, were 
leaning back against the heads of the water-casks, with 
closed eyes and fetching their breath with a gasp. 

At one end of the place was seen the barricade, hiding 
the invalids ; while — notwithstanding the crowd — in front 
of it was a clear area, which the fear of contagion had left 
open. 

“ That bulkhead must come down,” cried the mate, in a 
voice that rose above the din. “ Take hold of it, boys.” 

But hardly had we touched the chests composing it, 
when a crowd of pale-faced, infuriated men rushed up ; and 
with terrific howls, swore they would slay us, if we did not 
desist. 

“ Haul it down !” roared the mate. 

But the sailors fell back, murmuring something about 
merchant seamen having no pensions in case of being maim- 
ed, and they had not shipped to fight fifty to one. Further 
efforts were made by the mate, who at last had recourse to 
entreaty ; but it would not do ; and we.. were obliged to de- 
part, without achieving our object. 

About four o’clock that morning, the first four died. 
They were all men ; and the scenes which ensued were 
frantic in the extreme. Certainly, the bottomless profound 
of the sea, over which we were sailing, concealed nothing 
more frightful. 

Orders were at once passed to bury the dead. But this 
was unnecessary. By their own countrymen, they were torn 
from the clasp of their wives, rolled in their own bedding, 
with ballast-stones, and with hurried rites, were dropped into 
the ocean. 

At this time, ten more men had caught the disease ; and 
with a degree of devotion worthy all praise, the mate at- 
tended them with his medicines ; but the captain did not 
again go down to them. 

It was all-important now that the steerage should be 
purified ; and had it not been for the rains and squalls, which 


360 


RE DBURN: 


would have made it madness to turn such a number of women 
and children upon the wet and unsheltered decks, the steerage 
passengers would have been ordered above, and their den 
have been given a thorough cleansing. But, for the present, 
this was out of the question. The sailors peremptorily re- 
fused to go among the defilements to remove them ; and so 
besotted were the greater part of the emigrants themselves, 
that though the necessity of the case was forcibly painted to 
them, they would not lift a hand to assist in what seemed 
their own salvation. 

The panic in the cabin was now very great ; and for fear 
of contagion to themselves, the cabin passengers would fain 
have made a prisoner of the captain, to prevent him from 
going forward beyond the mainmast. Their clamors at last 
induced him to tell the two mates, that for the present they 
must sleep and take their meals elsewhere than in their old 
quarters, which communicated with the cabin. 

On land, a pestilence is fearful enough ; but there, many 
can flee from an infected city ; whereas, in a ship, you are 
locked and bolted in the very hospital itself Nor is there 
any possibility of escape from it ; and in so small and crowd- 
ed a place, no precaution can effectually guard against con- 
tagion. 

Horrible as the sights of the steerage now were, the cabin, 
perhaps, presented a scene equally despairing. Many, who 
had seldom prayed before, now implored the merciful heav- 
ens, night and day, for fair winds and fine weather. Trunks 
were opened for Bibles ; and at last, even prayer-meetings 
were held over the very table across which the loud jest had 
been so often heard. 

Strange, though almost universal, that the seemingly 
nearer prospect of that death which any body at any time 
may die, should produce these spasmodic devotions, when an 
everlasting Asiatic Cholera is forever thinning our ranks ; 
and die by death we all must at last. 

On the second day, seven died, one of whom was the little 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


361 


tailor : on the third, four ; on the fourth, six, of whom one 
was the Greenland sailor, and another, a woman in the 
cabin, whose death, however, was afterward supposed to 
have been purely induced by her fears. These last deaths 
brought the panic to its height ; and sailors, officers, cabin- 
passengers, and emigrants — all looked upon each other like 
lepers. All but the only true leper among us — the mariner 
Jackson, who seemed elated with the thought, that for him 
— already in the deadly clutches of another disease — no 
danger was to be apprehended from a fever which only 
swept off the comparatively healthy. Thus, in the midst of 
the despair of the healthful, this incurable invalid was not 
cast down ; not, at least, by the same considerations that 
appalled the rest. 

And still, beneath a gray, gloomy sky, the doomed craft 
beat on ; now on this tack, now on that ; battling against 
hostile blasts, and drenched in rain and spray ; scarcely 
making an inch of progress toward her port. 

On the sixth morning, the weather merged into a gale, 
to which we stripped our ship to a storm-stay-sail. In ten 
hours’ time, the waves ran in mountains ; and the High- 
lander rose and fell like some vast buoy on the water. 
Shrieks and lamentations were driven to leeward, and 
drowned in the roar of the wind among the cordage ; while 
we gave to the gale the blackened bodies of five more of the 
dead. 

But as the dying departed, the places of two of them were 
filled in the rolls of humanity, by the birth of two infants, 
whom the plague, panic, and gale had hurried into the 
world before their time. The first cry of one of these 
infants, was almost simultaneous with the splash of -its 
father’s body in the sea. Thus we come and we go. But, 
surrounded by death, both mothers and babes survived. 

At midnight, the wind went down ; leaving a long, roll- 
ing sea ; and, for the first time in a week, a clear, starry sky. 

In the first morning-watch, I sat with Harry on the 

Q 


362 


REDBURN: 


windlass, watching the billows ; which, seen in the night, 
seemed real hills, upon which fortresses might have been 
built ; and real valleys, in which villages, and groves, and 
gardens, might have nestled. It was like a landscape in 
Switzerland ; for down into those dark, purple glens, often 
tumbled the white foam of the wave-crests, like avalanches ; 
while the seething and boiling that ensued, seemed the 
swallowing up of human beings. 

By afternoon of the next day this heavy sea subsided , 
and we bore down on the waves, with all our canvas set ; 
stun’-sails alow and aloft ; and our best steersman at the 
helm ; the captain himself at his elbow ; — bowling along, 
with a fair, cheering breeze over the taffrail. 

‘The decks were cleared, and swabbed bone-dry ; and then, 
all the emigrants who were not invalids, poured themselves 
out on deck, snuffing the delightful air, spreading their damp 
bedding in the sun, and regaling themselves with the gen- 
erous charity of the captain, who of late had seen fit to 
increase their allowance of food. A detachment of them 
now joined a band of the crew, who proceeding into the 
steerage, with buckets and brooms, gave it a thorough 
cleansing, sending on deck, I know not how many buckets- 
fiil of defilements. It was more like cleaning out a stable, 
than a retreat for men and women. This day we buried 
three ; the next day one, and then the pestilence left us, 
with seven convalescent ; who, placed near the opening of 
the hatchway, soon rallied under the skillful treatment, and 
even tender care of the mate. 

But even under this favorable turn of afiairs, much ap- 
prehension was still entertained, lest in crossing the Grand 
Banks of Newfoundland, the fogs, so generally encountered 
there, might bring on a return of the fever. But, to the joy 
of all hands, our fair wind still held on ; and we made a 
rapid run across these dreaded shoals, and southward steered 
for New York. 

Our days were now fair and mild, and though the wind 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


363 


abated, yet we still ran our course over a pleasant sea. 
The steerage-passengers — at least by far the greater number 
— wore a still, subdued aspect, though a little cheered by 
the genial air, and the hopeful thought of soon reaching 
their port. But those who had lost fathers, husbands, wives, 
or children, needed no crape, to reveal to others, who they 
were. Hard and bitter indeed was their lot ; for with the 
poor and desolate, grief is no indulgence of mere sentiment, 
however sincere, but a gnawing reality, that eats into their 
vital beings ; they have no kind condolers, and bland 
physicians, and troops of sympathizing friends ; and they 
must toil, though to-morrow be the burial, and their pall- 
bearers throw down the hammer to lift up the coffin. 

How, then, with these emigrants, who, three thousand 
miles from home, suddenly found themselves deprived of 
brothers and husbands, with but a few pounds, or perhaps 
but a few shillings, to buy food in a strange land ? 

As for the passengers in the cabin, who now so j(?cund 
as they ? drawing nigh, with their long purses and goodly 
portmanteaus to the promised land, without fear of fate. 
One and all were generous and gay, the jelly-eyed old 
gentleman, before spoken of, gave a shilling to the steward. 

The lady who had died, wa^ an elderly person, an Amer- 
ican, returning from a visit to an only brother in Lon- 
don. She had no friend or relative on board, hence, as 
there is little mourning for a stranger dying among strangers, 
her memory had been buried with her body. 

But the thing most worthy of note among these now 
light-hearted people in feathers, wasi the gay way in which 
some of them bantered others, upon the panic into which 
nearly all had been thrown. 

And since, if the extremest fear of a crnwal in a panic of 
peril, proves grounded on causes sufficient, they must then 
indeed come to perish ; — therefore it is, that at such times 
they must make up their minds either to die, or else survive 
to be taunted by their fellow-men with their fear. For 


364 


REDBURN: 


except in extraordinary instances of exposure, there are few 
living men, who, at bottom, are not very slow to admit that 
any other living men have ever been very much nearer death 
than themselves. Accordingly, craven is the phrase too 
often applied to any one who, with however good reason, 
has been appalled at the prospect of sudden death, and yet 
lived to escape it. Though, should he have perished in con- 
formity with his fears, not a syllable of craven would you 
hear. This is the language of one, who more than once has 
beheld the scenes, whence these principles have been de- 
duced. The subject invites much subtle speculation ; for 
in every being’s ideas of death, and his behavior when it 
suddenly menaces him, lies the best index to his life and his 
faith. Though the Christian era had not then begun, 
Socrates died the death of the Christian ; and though Hume 
was not a Christian in theory, yet he, too, died the death of 
the Christian, — humble, composed, without bravado ; and 
though the most skeptical of philosophical skeptics, yet full 
of that firm, creedless faith, that embraces the spheres. 
Seneca died dictating to posterity ; Petronius lightly discours- 
ing of essences and love-songs ; and Addison, calling upon 
Christendom to behold how calmly a Christian could die ; 
but not even the last of these three, perhaps, died the best 
death of the Christian. 

The cabin passenger who had used to read prayers while 
the rest kneeled against the transoms and settees, was one 
of the merry young sparks, who had occasioned such agonies 
of jealousy to the poor tailor, now no more. In his rakish 
vest, and dangling watch-chain, this same youth, with all 
the awfulness of fear, had led the earnest petitions of his 
companions ; supplicating mercy, where before he had 
never solicited the slightest favor. More than once had he 
been seen thus engaged by the observant steersman at the 
helm : who looked through the little glass in the cabin 
bulk-head. 

But this youth was an April man ; the storm had 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


365 


departed ; and now he shone in the sun, none braver than 
he. 

One of his jovial companions ironically advised him to 
enter into holy orders upon his arrival in New York. 

“ Why so ?” said the other, “ have I such an orotund 
voice ?” 

“ No profanely returned his friend — “ but you are a 
coward — just the man to be a parson, and pray.” 

However this narrative of the circumstances attending 
the fever among the emigrants on the Highlander may 
appear ; and though these things happened so long ago ; yet 
just such events, nevertheless, are perhaps taking place to- 
day. But the only account you obtain of such events, is 
generally contained in a newspaper paragraph, under the 
shipping-head. There is the obituary of the destitute 
dead, who die on the sea. They die, like the billows that 
break on the shore, and no more are heard or seen. But 
in the events, thus merely initialized in the catalogue of 
passing occurrences, and but glanced at by the readers of 
news, who are more taken up with paragraphs of fuller 
flavor ; what a world of life and death, what a world of 
humanity and its woes, lies shrunk into a three-worded 
sentence ! 

You see no plague-ship driving through a stormy sea , 
you hear no groans of despair ; you see no corpses thrown 
over the bulwarks ; you mark not the wringing hands and 
torn hair of widows and orphans : — all is a blank. And 
one of these blanks I have but filled up, in recounting the 
details of the Highlander’s calamity. 

Besides that natural tendency, which hurries into oblivion 
the last woes of the poor ; other causes combine to suppress 
the detailed circumstances of disasters like these. Such 
things, if widely known, operate unfavorably to the ship, 
and make her a bad name ; and to avoid detention at 
quarantine, a captain will state the case in the most palli- 
ating light, and strive to hush it up, as much as he can. 


366 


REDBURN: 


In no better place than this, perhaps, can a few words be 
said, concerning emigrant ships in general. 

Let us waive that agitated national topic, as to whether 
such multitudes of foreign poor should be landed on our 
American shores ; let us waive it, with the one only thought, 
that if they can get here, they have God’s right to come ; 
though they bring all Ireland and her miseries with them. 
For the whole world is the patrimony of the whole world ; 
there is no telling who does not own a stone in the Great 
Wall of China. But we waive all this ; and will only 
consider, how best the emigrants can come hither, since come 
they do, and come they must and will. 

Of late, a law has been passed in Congress, restricting 
ships to a certain number of emigrants, according to a 
certain rate. If this law were enforced, much good might 
be done; and so also might much good be done, were the 
English law likewise enforced, concerning the fixed supply 
of food for every emigrant embarking from Liverpool. But 
it is hardly to be believed, that either of these laws is 
observed. 

But in all respects, no legislation, even nominally, reaches 
the hard lot of the emigrant. What ordinance makes it 
obligatory upon the captain of a ship, to supply the steerage- 
passengers with decent lodgings, and give them light and 
air in that foul den, where they are immured, during a long 
voyage across the Atlantic ? What ordinance necessitates 
him to place the galley, or steerage-passengers’ stove, in a 
dry place of shelter, where the emigrants can do their cook- 
ing during a storm, or wet weather ? What ordinance 
obliges him to give them more room on deck, and let them 
have an occasional run fore and aft ? — There is no law con- 
cerning these things. And if there was, who but some 
Howard in office would see it enforced ? and how seldom is 
there a Howard in office ! 

We talk of the Turks, and abhor the cannibals ; but 
may not some of them, go to heaven, before some of us ? 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


367 


We may have civilized bodies and yet barbarous souls. 
We are blind to the real sights of this world ; deaf to its 
voice ; and dead to its death. And not till we know, that 
one grief outweighs ten thousand joys, will we become what 
Christianity is striving to make us. 


CHAPTER LIX. 


THE LAST END OF JACKSON. 

“Off Cape Cod!” said the steward, coming forward from 
the quarter-deck, where the captain had just been taking his 
noon observation ; sweeping the vast horizon with his quad- 
rant, like a dandy circumnavigating the dress-circle of an 
amphitheater with his glass. 

Ojf Cape Cod! and in the shore-bloom that came to us 
— even from that desert of sand-hillocks — methought I could 
almost distinguish the fragrance of the rose-bush my sisters 
and I had planted, in our far inland garden at home. De- 
licious odors are those of our mother Earth ; which like a 
flower-pot set with a thousand shrubs, greets the eager voy- 
ager from afar. 

The breeze was stiff, and so drove us along that we turned 
over two broad, blue furrows from our bows, as we plowed 
the watery prairie. By night it was a reef-topsail-breeze ; 
but so impatient was the captain to make his port before a 
shift of wind overtook us, that even yet we carried a main- 
top-gallant-^ail, though the light mast sprung like a switch. 

In the second dog-watch, however, the breeze became such, 
that at last the order was given to douse the top-gallant-sail, 
and clap a reef into all three top-sails. 

While the men were settling away the halyards on deck, 
and before they had begun to haul out the reef-tackles, to 
the surprise of several, Jackson came up from the forecastle, 
and, for the first time in four weeks or more, took hold of a 
rope. 

Like most seamen, who during the greater part of a 
voyage, have been off duty from sickness, he was, perhaps. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


369 


desirous, just previous to entering port, of reminding the 
captain of his existence, and also that he expected his wages ; 
but, alas ! his wages proved the wages of sin. 

At no time could he better signalize his disposition to 
work, than upon an occasion like the present ; which gen- 
erally attracts every soul on deck, from the captain to the 
child in the steerage. 

His aspect was damp and death-like ; the blue hollows 
of his eyes were like vaults full of snakes ; and issuing so 
unexpectedly from his dark tomb in the forecastle, he looked 
like a man raised from the dead. 

Before the sailors had made fast the reef-tackle, Jackson 
was tottering up the rigging ; thus getting the start of them, 
and securing his 'place at the extreme weather-end of the 
topsail-yard — which in reefing is accounted the post of honor. 
For it was one of the characteristics of this man, that though 
when on duty he would shy away from mere dull work in 
a calm, yet in tempest-time he always claimed the van, and 
would yield it to none ; and this, perhaps, was one cause of 
his unbounded dominion over the men. 

Soon, we were all strung along the main-topsail-yard ; 
the ship rearing and plunging under us, like a runaway 
steed ; each man griping his reef-point, and sideways leaning, 
dragging the sail over toward Jackson, whose business it was 
to confine the reef corner to the yard. 

His hat and shoes were off; and he rode the yard-arm 
. end, leaning backward to the gale, and pulling at the earing- 
rope, like a bridle. At all times, this is a moment of frantic 
exertion with sailors, whose spirits seem then to partake of 
the commotion of the elements, as they hang in the gale, 
between heaven and earth ; and then it is, too, that they 
are the most profane. 

“ Haul out to windward !” coughed Jackson, with a blas- 
phemous cry, and he threw himself back with a violent strain 
upon the bridle in his hand. But the wild words were 
hardly out of his mouth, when his hands dropped to his side, 

Q* 


370 


REDBURN: 


and the bellying sail was spattered with a torrent of blood 
from his lungs. 

As the man next him stretched out his arm to save, 
Jackson fell headlong from the yard, and with a long seethe, 
plunged like a diver into the sea. 

It was when the ship had rolled to windward, which, 
with the long projection of the yard-arm over the side, made 
him strike far out upon the water. His fall was seen by the 
whole upward-gazing crowd on deck, some of whom were 
spotted with the blood that trickled from the sail, while they 
raised a spontaneous cry, so shrill and wild, that a blind man 
might have known something deadly had happened. 

Clutching our reef-points, we hung over the stick^ and 
gazed down to the one white, bubbling spot, which had closed 
over the head of our shipmate ; but the next minute it was 
brewed into the common yeast of the waves, and Jackson 
never arose. We waited a few minutes, expecting an order 
to descend, haul back the fore-yard, and man the boat ; but 
instead of that, the next sound that greeted us was, “ Bear 
a hand, and reef away, men !” from the mate. 

Indeed, upon reflection, it would have been idle to attempt 
to save Jackson ; for besides that he must have been dead, 
ere he struck the sea — and if he had not been dead then, 
the first immersion must have driven his soul from his lac- 
erated lungs — our jolly-boat would have taken full fifteen 
minutes to launch into the waves. 

And here it should be said, that the thoughtless security 
in which too many sea-captains indulge, would, in case of 
some sudden disaster befalling the Highlander, have let us 
all drop into our graves. 

Like most merchant ships, we had but two boats : the 
long-boat and the jolly-boat. The long-boat, by far the 
largest and stoutest of the two, was permanently bolted 
down to the deck, by iron bars attached to its sides. It 
was almost as much of a fixture as the vessel’s keel. It 
was filled with pigs, fowls, firewood, and coals. Over this 


HIS FIKST VOYAGE. 


371 


the jolly-boat was capsized without a thole-jpin in the gun- 
wales ; its bottom bleaching and cracking in the sun. 

Judge, then, what promise of salvation for us, had we 
shipwrecked ; yet in this state, one merchant ship out of 
three, keeps its boats. To be sure, no vessel full of emigrants, 
by any possible precautions, could in case of a fatal disaster 
at sea, hope to save the tenth part of the souls on hoard ; 
yet provision should certainly he made for a handful of sur- 
vivors, to carry home the tidings of her loss ; for even in the 
worst of the calamities that befell patient Job, some one at 
least of his servants escaped to report it. 

In a way that I never could fully account for, the sailors, 
in my hearing at least, and Harry’s, never made the slightest 
allusion to the departed Jackson. One and all they seemed 
tacitly to unite in hushing up his memory among them. 
Whether it was, that the severity of the bondage imder which 
this man held every one of them, did really corrode in their 
secret hearts, that they thought to repress the recollection 
of a thing so degrading, I can not determine ; but certain it 
was, that his death was their deliverance ; which they cele- 
brated by an elevation of spirits, unknown before. Doubt- 
less, this was to be in part imputed, however, to their now 
drawing near to their port. 


I 


'Mi 




CHAPTER LX. 


(* 

HOME AT LAST. 

Next day was Sunday ; and the mid-day sun shone upon 
a glassy sea. 

After the uproar of the breeze and the gale, this profound, 
pervading calm seemed suited to the tranquil spirit of a day, 
which, in godly towns, makes quiet vistas of the most 
tumultuous thoroughfares. 

The ship lay gently rolling in the soft, subdued ocean 
swell ; while all around were faint white spots ; and nearer 
to, broad, milky patches, betokening the vicinity of scores of 
ships, all bound to one common port, and tranced in one i 
common calm. Here the long, devious wakes from Europe, 
Africa, India, and Peru converged to a line, which braided 
them all in one. 

Full before us quivered and danced, in the noon-day heat 
and mid-air, the green heights of New Jersey ; and by an 
optical delusion, the blue sea seemed to flow under them. 

The sailors whistled and whistled for a wind ; the impa- 
tient cabin-passengers were arrayed in their best ; and the 
emigrants clustered around the bows, with eyes intent upon* 
the long-sought land. 

But leaning over, in a reverie, against the side, my Carlo 
gazed down into the calm, violet sea, as if it were an eye 
that answered his own ; and turning to Harry, said, “ This 
America’s skies must be down in the sea ; for, looking down 
in this water, I behold what, in Italy, we also behold over- 
head. Ah ! after all, I find my Italy somewhere, wherever 
I go. I even found it in rainy Liverpool.” 

Presently, up came a dainty breeze, wafting to us a white 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


373 


wing from the shore — the pilot-boat I Soon a monkey- 
jacket mounted the side, and was beset by the captain and 
cabin people for news. And out of bottomless pockets came 
bundles of newspapers, which were eagerly caught by the 
throng. 

The captain now abdicated in the pilot’s favor, who 
proved to be a tiger of a fellow, keeping us hard at work, 
pulling and hauling the braces, and trimming the ship, to 
catch the least cafs-paw of wind. 

When, among sea-worn people, a strange man from shore 
suddenly stands among them, with the smell of the land in 
i, his beard, it conveys a realization of the vicinity of the 
green grass, that not even the distant sight of the shore itself 
can transcend. 

The steerage was now as a bedlam ; trunks and chests 
were locked and tied round with ropes ; and a general wash- 
ing and rinsing of faces and hands was beh^d. While this 
was going on, forth came an order from the quarter-deck, for 
every bed, blanket, bolster, and bundle of straw in the steer- 
age to be committed to the deep. — A command that was 
received by the emigrants with dismay, and then with 
wrath. But they were assured, that this was indispensable 
to the getting rid of an otherwise long detention of some 
weeks at the quarantine. They therefore reluctantly com- 
plied ; and overboard went pallet and pillow. Following 
them, went old pots and pans, bottles and baskets. So, all 
around, the sea was strewn with stuflcd bed-ticks, that lim- 
berly floated on the waves — couches for all mermaids who 
were not fastidious. Numberless things of this sort, tossed 
overboard from, emigrant ships nearing the harbor of New 
York, drift in through the Narrows, and are deposited on the 
shores of Staten Island ; along whose eastern beach I have 
often walked, and speculated upon the broken jugs, torn pil- 
lows, and dilapidated baskets at my feet. 

A second order was now passed for the emigrants to mus- 
ter their forces, and give the steerage a final, thorough clean- 


374 


R E D B U R N : 


ing with sand and water. And to this they were incited by 
the same warning which had induced them to make an 
offering to Neptune of their bedding. The place was then 
fumigated, and dried with pans of coals from the galley ; so 
that by evening, no stranger would have imagined, from her 
appearance, that the Highlander had made otherwise than a 
tidy and prosperous voyage. Thus, some sea-captains take 
good heed that benevolent citizens shall not get a glimpse 
of the true condition of the steerage while at sea. 

That night it again fell calm ; but next morning, though 
the wind was somewhat against us, we set sail for the Nar- 
rows ; and making short tacks, at last ran through, almost 
bringing our jib-boom over one of the forts. 

An early shower had refreshed the woods and fields, that 
glowed with a glorious green ; and to our salted lungs, the 
land breeze was spiced with aromas. The steerage passen- 
gers almost neighed with delight, like horses brought back 
to spring pastures ; and every eye and ear in the Highlander 
was full of the glad sights and sounds of the shore. 

No more did we think of the gale and the plague ; nor 
turn our eyes upward to the stains of blood, still visible on 
the topsail, whence Jackson had fallen ; but we fixed our 
gaze on the orchards and meads, and like thirsty men, 
drank in all their dew. 

On the Staten Island side, a white stall' displayed a pale 
yellow flag, denoting the habitation of the quarantine officer ; 
for as if to symbolize the yellow fever itself, and strike a 
panic and premonition of the black vomit into every beholder, 
all quarantines all over the world, taint the air with the 
streamings of their fever-flag. 

But though the long rows of white-washed hospitals on the 
hill side were now in plain sight, and though scores of ships 
were here lying at anchor, yet no boat came off to us ; and 
to our surprise and delight, on we sailed, past a spot which 
every one had dreaded. How it was that they thus let us 
pass without boarding us, we never could learn. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


37a 


Now rose the city from out the bay, and one by one, her 
spires pierced the blue ; while thick and more thick, ships, 
brigs, schooners, and sail boats, thronged around. We saw 
the Hartz Forest of masts and black rigging stretching along 
the East River ; and northward, up the stately old Hudson, 
covered with white sloop-sails like fleets of swans, we caught 
a far glimpse of the purple Palisades. 

Oh ! he who has never been afar, let him once go from 
home, to know what home is. For as you draw nigh again 
to your old native river, he seems to pour through you 
with all his tides, and in your enthusiasm, you swear to build 
altars like mile-stones, along both his sacred banks. 

Like the Czar of all the Russias, and Siberia to boot. 
Captain Riga, telescope in hand, stood on the poop, pointing 
out to the passengers, Governor’s Island, Castle Garden, and 
the Battery. 

“ And that,'' said he, pointing out a vast black hull 
which, like a shark, showed tiers of teeth, “ that, ladies, is 
a line-of-battle-ship, the North Carolina.” 

“ Oh, dear !” — and “ Oh my !” — ejaculated the ladies , 
«nd — “ Lord, save us,” responded an old gentleman, who 
was a member of the Peace Society. 

Hurra ! hurra ! and ten thousand times hurra ! down 
goes our old anchor, fathoms down into the free and inde- 
pendent Yankee mud, one handful of which was now worth 
a broad manor in England. 

The Whitehall boats were around us, and soon, our cabin 
passengers were all off, gay as crickets, and bound for a late 
dinner at the Astor House ; where, no doubt, they fired off 
a salute of champagne corks in honor of their own arrival. 
Only a veiy few of the steerage passengers, however, could 
aflbrd to pay the high price the watermen demanded for 
carrying them ashore ; so most of them remained with us 
till morning. But nothing could restrain our Italian boy. 
Carlo, who, promising the vjatermen to pay them with his 
music, was triumphantly rowed ashore, seated in the stem 


376 


REDBURN; 


of the boat, his organ before him, and something like Hail 
Columbia !” his tune. We gave him three rapturous cheers, 
and we never saw Carlo again. 

Harry and I passed the greater part of the night walking 
the deck, and gazing at the thousand lights of the city. 

At sunrise, we warped into a berth at the foot of Wall- 
street, and knotted our old ship, stem and stern, to the pier. 
But that knotting of her, was the unknotting of the bonds 
of the sailors, among whom, it is a maxim, that the ship 
once fast to the wharf, they are free. So with a rush and 
a shout, they bounded ashore, followed by the tumultuous 
crowd of emigrants, whose friends, day-laborers and house- 
maids, stood ready to embrace them. 

But in silent gratitude at the end of a voyage, almost 
equally uncongenial to both of us, and so bitter to one, 
Harry and I sat on a chest in the forecastle. And now, 
the ship that we had loathed, grew lovely in our eyes, which 
lingered over every familiar old timber ; for the scene of 
suffering is a scene of joy w'hen the suffering is past ; and 
the silent reminiscence of hardships departed, is sweeter 
than the presence of delight. 


!. ■ 


CHAPTER LXI. 

REDBURN AND HARRY, ARM IN ARM, IN HARBOR. 

There we sat in that tarry old den, the only inhabitants 
of the deserted old ship, but the mate and the rats. 

At last, Harry went to his chest, and drawing out a few 
shillings, proposed that we should go ashore, and return with 
a supper, to eat in the forecastle. Little else that was 
eatable being for sale in the paltry shops along the wharves, 
we bought several pies, some doughnuts, and a bottle/ of 
ginger-pop, and thus supplied we made merry. For to us, 
whose very mouths were become pickled and puckered, with 
the continual flavor of briny beef, those pies and doughnuts 
were most delicious. And as for the ginger-pop, why, that 
ginger-pop was divine ! I have reverenced ginger-pop ever 
since. 

We kept late hours that night ; for, delightful certainty ! 
placed beyond all doubt — like royal landsmen, we were 
masters of the watches of the night, and no starb-o-leens 
ahoy ! would annoy us again. 

“ All night in ! think of that, Harry, my friend !” 

“ Ay, Wellingborough, it’s enough to keep me awake for- 
ever, to think I may now sleep as long as I please.” 

We turned out bright and early, and then prepared for 
the shore, first stripping to the waist, for a toilet. 

“ I shall never get these confounded tar-stains out of my 
fingers,” cried Harry, rubbing them hard with a bit of 
oakum, steeped in strong suds. “ No ! they will not come 
out, and I’m ruined for life. Look at my hand once, 
Wellingborough I” 

It was indeed a sad sight. Every finger nail, like mine, 


378 


REDBURN: 


was dyed of a rich, russet hue ; looking something like bits 
of fine tortoise shell. 

“Never mind, Harry,” said I — “You know the ladies 
of the east steep the tips of their fingers in some golden 
dye.” 

“And by Plutus,” cried Harry — “I’d steep mine up to 
the arm-pits in gold ; since you talk about that. But 
never mind. I’ll swear I’m just from Persia, my boy.” 

We now arrayed ourselves in our best, and sallied ashore ; 
and, at once, I piloted Harry to the sign of a Turkey Cock 
in Fulton-street, kept by one Sweeny, a place famous for 
cheap Souchong, and capital buckwheat cakes. 

“ Well gentlemen, what will you have ?” — said a waiter, 
as we seated ourselves at a table. 

“ Gentlemen whispered Harry to me — gentlemen ! — 
hear him ! — I say now, Redburn, they didn’t talk to us that 
way on board the old Highlander. By heaven, I begin to 
feel my straps again : — Coffee and hot rolls, he added aloud, 
crossing his legs like a lord, “ and fellow — come back — 
bring us a venison-steak.” 

“ Havn’t got it, gentlemen.” 

“ Ham and eggs,” suggested I, whose mouth was watering 
at the recollection of that particular dish, which I had 
tasted at the sign of the Turkey Cock before. So ham and 
eggs it was ; and royal coffee, and imperial toast. 

But the butter ! 

“ Harry, did you ever taste such butter as this before ?” 

“ Don’t say a word,” — said Harry, spreading his tenth 
slice of toast. “ I’m going to turn dairyman, and keep 
within the blessed savor of butter, so long as I live.” 

We made a breakfast, never to be forgotten; paid our 
bill with a flourish, and sallied into the street, like two 
goodly galleons of gold, bound from Acapulco to Old Spain. 

“ Now,” said Harry, “ lead on ; and let’s see something 
of these United States of yours. I’m ready to pace from 
Maine to Florida ; ford the Great Lakes ; and jump the 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


379 


River Ohio, if it comes in the way. Here, take my arm ; — 
lead on.” 

Such was the miraculous change, that had now come over 
him. It reminded me of his manner, when we had started 
for London, from the sign of the Golden Anchor, in Liver- 
pool. 

He was, indeed, in most wonderful spirits ; at which 1 
could not help marveling ; considering the cavity in his 
pockets ; and that he was a stranger in the land. 

By noon he had selected his hoarding-house, a private 
establishment, where they did not charge much for their 
board, and where the landlady’s butcher’s bill was not very 
large. 

Here, at last, I left him to get his chest from the ship ; 
while I turned up town to see my old friend Mr. Jones, and 
learn what had happened during my absence. 

With one hand, Mr. Jones shook mine most cordially ; 
and with the other, gave me some letters, which I eagerly 
devoured. Their purport compelled my departure home- 
ward ; and I at once sought out Harry to inform him. 

Strange, but even the few hours’ absence which had in- 
tervened ; during which, Harry had been left to himself, to 
stare at strange streets, and strange faces, had wrought a 
marked change in his countenance. He was a creature of 
the suddenest impulses. Left to himself, the strange streets 
seemed now to have reminded him of his friendless condition ; 
and I found him with a very sad eye ; and his right hand 
groping in his pocket. 

“ Where am I going to dine, this day week?” — he slowly 
said. “ What’s to be done, Wellingborough ?” 

And when I told him that the next afternoon I must 
leave him ; he looked downhearted enough. But I cheered 
him as well as I could ; though needing a little cheering 
myself ; even though I had got home again. But no more 
about that. 

Now, there was a young man of my acquaintance in the 


880 


RE DBURN; 


city, much my senior, by the name of Goodwell ; and a 
good natured fellow he was ; who had of late been engaged 
as a clerk in a large forwarding house in South-street ; and 
it occurred to me, that he was just the man to befriend Harry, 
and procure him a place. So I mentioned the thing to my 
comrade ; and we called upon Goodwell, 

I saw that he was impressed by the handsome exterior 
of my friend ; and in private, making known the case, he 
faithfully promised to do his best for him ; though the 
times, he said, were quite dull. 

That evening, Goodwell, Harry, and I, perambulated the 
streets, three abreast : — Goodwell spending his money freely 
at the oyster-saloons ; Harry full of allusions to the London 
Club-houses : and myself contributing a small quota to the 
general entertainment. 

Next morning, we proceeded to business 
Now, I did not expect to draw much of a salary from the 
ship ; so as to retire for life on the profits of my first voyage; 
but nevertheless, I thought that a dollar or two might be 
coming. For dollars are valuable things ; and should not 
be overlooked, when they are owing. Therefore, as the 
second morning after our arrival, had been set apart for 
paying off the crew, Harry and I made our appearance on 
ship-board, with the rest. We were told to enter the 
cabin ; and once again I found myself, after an interval of 
four months, and more, surrounded by its mahogany and 
maple. 

Seated in a sumptuous arm-chair, behind a lustrous, inlaid 
desk, sat Captain Riga, arrayed in his City Hotel suit, look- 
ing magisterial as the Lord High Admiral of England. Hat 
in hand, the sailors stood deferentially in a semicircle before 
him, while the captain held the ship-papers in his hand, and 

one by one called their names ; and in mellow bank notes 

beautiful sight I^paid them their wages. 

Most of them had less than ten, a few twenty, and two, 
thirty dollars coming to them j while the old cook, whose 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


381 


piety proved profitable in restraining him from the expensive 
excesses of most seafaring men, and who had taken no pay 
in advance, had the goodly round sum of seventy dollars as 
his due. 

Seven ten dollar hills ! each of which, as I calculated at 
the time, was worth precisely one hundred dimes, which 
were equal to one thousand cents, which were again sub- 
divisible into fractions. So that he now stepped into a for- 
tune of seventy thousand American Only seventy 

dollars, after all ; but then, it has always seemed to me, 
that stating amounts in sounding fractional sums, conveys a 
much fuller notion of their magnitude, than by disguising 
their immensity in such aggregations of value, as doubloons, 
sovereigns, 'and dollars. Who would not rather be worth 
125,000 francs in Paris, than only <£5000 in London, though 
the intrinsic value of the two sums, in round numbers, is 
pretty much the same. 

With a scrape of the foot, and such a bow as only a 
negro can make, the old cook marched off with his fortune ; 
and I have no doubt at once invested it in a grand, under- 
ground oyster-cellar. 

The other sailors, after counting their cash very carefully, 
and seeing all was right, and not a bank-note was dog-eared, 
in which case they would have demanded another : for they 
are not to be taken in and cheated, your sailors, and they 
know their rights, too ; at least, when they are at liberty, 
after the voyage is concluded : — the sailors also salaamed, 
and withdrew, leaving Harry and me face to face with the 
Paymaster-general of the Forces. 

We stood awhile, looking as polite as possible, and ex- 
pecting every moment to hear our names called, but not a 
word did we hear ; while the captain, throwing aside his 
accounts, lighted a very fragrant cigar, took up the morning 
paper — I think it was the Herald — threw his leg over one 
arm of the chair, and plunged into the latest intelligence 
from all parts of the world. 


382 


REDBURN: 


I looked at Harry, and he looked at me and then we 
both looked at this incomprehensible captain. 

At last Harry hemmed, and I scraped my foot to increase 
the disturbance. 

The Paymaster-general looked up. 

“ Well, where do you come from? Who are you, pray? 
and what do you want ? Steward, show these young gen- 
tlemen out.” 

“ I want my money,” said Harry. 

“ My wages are due,” said I. 

The captain laughed. Oh ! he was exceedingly merry , 
and taking a long inspiration of smoke, removed his cigar, 
and sat sideways looking at us, letting the vapor slowly 
wriggle and spiralize out of his mouth. 

“ Upon my soul, young gentlemen, you astonish me. Are 
your names down in the City Directory ? have you any letters 
of introduction, young gentlemen?” 

“ Captain Riga!” cried Harry, enraged at his impudence 
— “ I tell you what it is. Captain Riga; this won’t do — 
where’s the rhino?” 

“Captain Riga,” added I, “do you not remember, that 
about four months ago, my friend Mr. Jones and myself had 
an interview with you in this very cabin ; when it was 
agreed that I was to go out in your ship, and receive three 
dollars per month for my services ? Well, Captain Riga, 
I have gone out with you, and returned ; and now, sir. I’ll 
thank you for my pay.” 

“Ah, yes, I remember,” said the captain. “Afr. Jones l 
Ha ! ha ! I remember Mr. Jones : a very gentlemanly gen- 
tleman ; and stop — you, too, are the son of a wealthy French 
importer ; and — let me think — was not your great-uncle a 
barber?” 

“No!” thundered I. 

“Well, well, young gentleman, really I beg your pardon. 
Steward, chairs for the young gentlemen — be seated, young 
gentlemen. And now, let me see,” turning over his accounts 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


383 


— “ Hum, hum!— yes, here it is: Wellingborough Redburn, 
at three dollars a month. Say four months, that’s twelve 
dollars ; less three dollars advanced in Liverpool — that 
makes it nine dollars ; less three hammers and two scrapers 
lost overboard — that brings it to four dollars and a quarter. 
I owe you four dollars and a quarter, I believe, young gen- 
tleman?” 

“So it seems, sir,” said I, with staring eyes. 

“And now let me see what you owe me, “and then we’ll 
be able to square the yards. Monsieur Redburn.” 

Owe him I thought I — what do I owe him but a grudge , 
but I concealed my resentment ; and presently he said, “ By 
running away from the ship in Liverpool, you forfeited your 
wages, which amount to twelve dollars ; and as there has 
been advanced to you, in money, hammers, and scrapers, 
seven dollars and^ seventy-five cents, you are therefore in- 
debted to me in precisely that sum. Now, young gentle- 
man, I’ll thank you for the money and he extended his 
open palm across the desk. ^ 

“ Shall I pitch into him ?” whispered Harry. , 

“ I was thunderstruck at this most unforeseen announce- 
ment of the state of my account with Captain Riga ; and I 
began to understand why it was that he had till now ignored 
my absence from the ship, when Harry and I were in Lon- 
don. But a single minute’s consideration showed that I 
could not help myself; so, telling him that he was at liberty 
to begin his suit, for I was a bankrupt, and could not pay 
him, I turned to go. 

Now, here was this man actually turning a poor lad adrift 
without a copper, after he had been slaving aboard his ship 
for more than four mortal months. But Captain Riga was 
a bachelor of expensive habits, and had run up large wine 
bills at the City Hotel. He could not afibrd to be munifi- 
cent. Peace to his dinners. 

“ Mr. Bolton, I believe,” said the captain, now blandly 
bowing toward Harry. “ Mr. Bolton, you also shipped for 


384 


RE DBURN: 


three dollars per month : and you had one month’s advance in 
Liverpool ; and from dock to dock we have been about a 
month and a half ; so I owe you just one dollar and a half, 
Mr. Bolton ; and here it is handing him six two-shilling 
pieces.- 

“ And this,” said Harry, throwing himself into a tragical 
attitude, “ thh is the reward of my long and faithful serv- 
ices !” 

Then, disdainfully flinging the silver on the desk, he ex- 
claimed, “ There, Captain Riga, you may keep your tin ! It 
has been in your purse, and it would give me the itch to re- 
tain it. Good morning, sir.” 

“ Good morning, young gentlemen; pray, call again,” said 
the captain, coolly bagging the coins. His politeness, while 
in port, was invincible. 

Quitting the cabin, I remonstrated with Harry upon his 
recklessness in disdaining his wages, small though they were ; 
I begged to remind him of his situation ; and hinted that 
every penny he could get might prove precious to him. But 
he only cried Pshaw ! and that was the last of it. 

Going forward, we found the sailors congregated on the 
forecastle-deck, engaged in some earnest discussion ; while 
several carts on the wharf, loaded with their chests, were 
just in the act of driving off, destined for the boarding-houses 
up-town. By the looks of our shipmates, I saw very plainly 
that they must have some mischief under weigh ; and so it 
turned out. 

Now, though Captain Riga had not been guilty of any 
particular outrage against the sailors ; yet, by a thousand 
small meannesses — such as indirectly causing their allow- 
ance of bread and beef to be diminished, without betraying 
any appearance of having any inclination that way, and with- 
out speaking to the sailors on the subject — ^by this, and kin- 
dred actions, I say, he had contracted the cordial dislike of 
the whole ship’s company ; and long since they had bestowed 
upon him a name unmentionably expressive of their contempt. 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


385 


The voyage was now concluded ; and it appeared that the 
subject being debated by the assembly on the forecastle was, 
how best they might give a united and valedictory expression 
of the sentiments they entertained toward their late lord and 
master. Some emphatic symbol of those sentiments Avas 
desired ; some unmistakable token, which should forcibly im- 
press Captain Riga Avith the justest possible notion of their 
feelings. 

It was like a meeting of the members of some mercantile 
company, upon the eve of a prosperous dissolution of the con- 
cern ; when the subordinates, actuated by the purest grati- 
tude toward their president, or chief, proceed to vote him a 
silver pitcher, in token of their respect. It was something 
like this, I repeat — but with a material difference, as will 
be seen. 

At last, the precise manner in which the thing should be 
done being agreed upon, Blunt, the “ Irish cockney,” was 
deputed to summon the captain. He knocked at the cabin- 
door, and politely requested the steward to inform Captain 
Riga, that some gentlemen were on the pier-head, earnestly 
seeking him ; whereupon he joined his comrades. 

In a few moments the captain sallied from the cabin, and 
found the gentlemen alluded to, strung along the top of the 
bulwarks, on the side next to the wharf Upon his appear- 
ance, the row suddenly wheeled about, presenting their 
backs ; and making a motion, which was a polite salute to 
every thing before them, but an abominable insult to all 
who happened to be in their rear, they gave three cheers, 
and at one bound, cleared the ship. 

True to his imperturbable politeness while in port. Cap- 
tain Riga only lifted his hat, smiled very blandly, and 
slowly returned into his cabin. 

Wishing to see the last movements of this remarkable 
crew, who were so clever ashore and so craven afloat, Harry 
and I followed them along the wharf, till they stopped at a 
sailor retreat, poetically denominated “The Flashes.” And 

R 


386 


R E D B U R N : 


here they all came to anchor before the bar ; and the land- 
lord, a lantern-jawed landlord, bestirred himself behind it, 
among his villainous old bottles and decanters. He well 
knew, from their looks, that his customers were “ flush,” and 
would spend their money freely, as, indeed, is the case with 
most seamen, recently paid off. 

It was a touching scene. 

“ Well, maties,” said one of them, at last — “ I spose we 
shan’t see each other again : — come, let’s splice the main- 
brace all round, and drink to the last voyage!'' 

Upon this, the landlord danced down his glasses, on the 
bar, uncorked his decanters, and deferentially pushed them 
over toward the sailors, as much as to say — “ Honoi’oble 
gentlemen, it is not for me to alloivance your liquor ; — help 
yourselves, your honors." 

And so they did ; each glass a bumper ; and standing in 
a row, tossed them all oft' ; shook hands all round, three times 
three ; and then disappeared in couples, through the several 
doorways ; for “ The Flashes" was on a corner. 

If to every one, life be made up of farewells and greetings, 
and a “ Good-hy, God bless you," is heard for every How 
d'ye do, welcome, my boy" — then, of all men, sailors shake 
the most hands, and wave the most hats. They are here 
and then they are there ; ever shifting themselves, they shift 
among the shifting : and like rootless sea-weed, are tossed to 
and fro. 

As, after shaking our hands, our shipmates departed, 
Harry and I stood on the corner awhile, till we saw the last 
man disappear. 

“ They are gone,” said I. 

“ Thank heaven !” said Harry. 




CHAPTER LXIl. 

j 

THE LAST THAT WAS EVER HEARD OF HARRY BOLTON. 

That same afternoon, I took my comrade down to the 
Battery ; and we sat on one of the benches, under the sum- 
mer shade of the trees. 

It was a quiet, beautiful scene ; full of promenading ladies 
and gentlemen ; and through the foliage, so fresh and bright, 
we looked out over the bay, varied with glancing ships ; and 
then, we looked down to our boots ; and thought what a 
fine world it would be, if we only had a little money to 
enjoy it. But that’s the everlasting rub — oh, who can cure 
an empty pocket ? 

“ I have no doubt, Goodwell will take care of you, Harry,” 
said I, “ he’s a fine, good-hearted fellow ; and will do his 
best for you, I know.” 

“ No doubt of it,” said Harry, looking hopeless. 

“ And I need not fell you, Harry, how sorry I am to 
leave you so soon.” 

“ And I am sorry enough myself,” said Harry, looking 
very sincere. 

“ But I will be soon back again, I doubt not,” said I. 

“ Perhaps so,” said Harry, shaking his head. “ How far 
is it off?” 

“ Only a hundred and eighty miles,” said I. 

“ A hundred and eighty miles !” said Harry, drawing the 
words out like an endless ribbon. “ Why, ^ couldn’t walk 
that in a month.” 

» Now, my dear friend,” said I, “ Take n,y advice, and 
while I am gone, keep up a stout heart j never despair, and 
all will be well.” 


388 


R E D B U R N : 


But notwithstanding all I could say to encourage him, 
Harry felt so had, that nothing would do, but a rush to a 
neighboring bar, where we both gulped down a glass of 
ginger-pop ; after which we felt better. 

He accompanied me to the steamboat, that was to carry 
me homeward ; he stuck close to my side, till she was about 
to put off ; then, standing on the wharf, he shook me by the 
hand, till we almost counteracted the play of the paddles ; 
and at last, with a mutual jerk at the arm-pits, we parted. 
I never saw Harry again. 

I pass over the reception I met with at home ; how I 
plunged into embraces, long and loving : — I pass over this ; 
and will conclude my first voyage by relating all I know of 
what overtook Harry Bolton. 

Circumstances beyond my control, detained me at home 
for several weeks ; during which, I wrote to my friend, 
without receiving an answer. 

I then wrote to young Goodwell, who returned me the 
following letter, now spread before me. 

Dear Redburn : — Your 'poor friend, Harry, I can 
not find any where. After you left, he called upon me 
several times, and we walked out ' together ; and my in- 
terest in him increased every day. But you don't know how 
dull are the times here, and what multitudes of young men, 
well qualified, are seeking employment in countingdiouses. 
I did my best ; but could not get Harry a place. How- 
ever, I cheered him. But he grew more and more melan- 
choly, and at last told me, that he had sold all his clothes 
but those on his back to pay his board. I offered to loan 
him a few dollars, but he would not receive them. I called 
upon him two or three times after this, but he ivas not in; 
at last, his landlady told me that he had permanently left 
her house the very day before. Upon my questioning Iwr 
closely, as to 'lohere he had gone, she answered, that she 
did not know, but from certain hints that had dropped 


HIS FIRST VOYAGE. 


389 


from our ‘poor friend, she feared he had gone on a whaling 
voyage. I at once ivent to the ofices in South-street, 
where men are shipped for the Nantucket whalers, and 
made inquiries among them; but without success. And 
this, I am heartily grieved to say, is all I know of our 
friend. I can 'not believe that his melancholy could bring 
him to the insanity of throwing himself away in a whaler ; 
and I still think, that he must be somewhere in the city. 
You must come down yonrself and help me seek him out.’' 

This letter gave me a dreadful shock, Remembering 
our adventure in London, and his conduct there ; remem- 
bering how liable he was to yield to the most sudden, crazy, 
and contrary impulses ; and that, as a friendless, penniless 
foreigner in New York, he must have had the most terrible 
incitements to committing violence upon himself ; I shud- 
dered to think, that even now, while I ‘thought of him, he 
might no more be living. So strong was this impression at 
the time, that I quickly glanced over the papers to see if 
there were any accounts of suicides, or drowned persons 
floating in the harbor of New York. 

I now made all the haste I could to the seaport, but 
though I sought him all over, no tidings whatever could be 
heard. 

To relieve my anxiety. Good well endeavored to assure 
me, that Harry must indeed have departed on a whaling 
voyage. But remembering his bitter experience on board 
of the Highlander, and more than all, his nervousness about 
going aloft, it seemed next to impossible. 

At last I was forced to give him up. 

****** 

Years after this, I found myself a sailor in the Pacific, 
on board of a whaler. One day at sea, we spoke another 
whaler, and the boat’s crew that boarded our vessel, came 
forward among us to have a little sea-chat, as is always 
customary upon such occasions. 


390 


R E D B U R N : 


Among the strangers was an Englishman, who had 
shipped in his vessel at Callao, for the cruise. In the 
course of conversation, he made allusion to the fact, that 
he had now been in the Pacific several years, and that the 
good craft Huntress of Nantucket had had the honor of 
originally bringing him round upon that side of the globe. 
I asked him why he had abandoned her ; he answered that 
she was the most unlucky of ships. 

“We had hardly been out three months,” said he, “when 
on the Brazil banks we lost a boat’s crew, chasing a whale 
after sundown ; and next day lost a poor little fellow, a 
countryman of mine, who had never entered the boats ; he 
fell over the side, and was jammed between the ship, and a 
whale, while we were cutting the fish in. Poor fellow, he 
had a hard time of it, from the beginning ; he was a gentle- 
man’s son, and when you could coax him to it, he sang like 
a bird.” 

“ What was his name ?” said I, trembling with expecta- 
tion ; “ what kind of eyes did he have ? what was the color 
of his hair?” 

“ Harry Bolton was not your brother ?” cried the stranger, 
starting. 

Harry Bolton ! it was even he ! 

But yet, I, Wellingborough Bedburn, chance to survive, 
after having passed through far more perilous scenes than 
any narrated in this. My First Voyage — ^which here I end. 


THE END. 


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